Doncaster Rovers: Luke McCullough facing lengthy spell out with knee injury

Rovers boss Darren Ferguson says the club has no time frame on McCullough’s return from injury but revealed he will be out for several months.

“Luke definitely won’t make the start of the season,” Ferguson told The Star.

“He had a scan on Tuesday and he’s got a problem with his knee. We got the results of the scan just before the Armthorpe game.

“It’s a real disappointing one for us and we don’t know exactly how long it will be.

“But it’s not going to be short.

“It’s a blow for everyone but more so for the boy obviously.”

The Northern Ireland international missed the majority of last season after suffering knee ligament damage in a pre-season friendly with York City.

He returned to play seven of the final eight games of the campaign but encountered problems with his knee on international duty.

A clean up operation looked to have rectified the problem but he has since suffered another significant setback.

Ferguson said: “He came back so strong from that big injury, went away with Northern Ireland, had the problem, went in and got that opened up and cleaned out but now he’s got another problem.

“It’s disappointing for the boy and everyone because he’s a big player for us.”

Potentially covering McCullough’s absence could be the returning Jordan Houghton.

Ferguson continues to track the recovery of the Chelsea midfielder with the possibility of bringing him back to the Keepmoat on loan.

Mathieu Baudry missed Tuesday’s friendly win at Armthorpe Welfare after pulling up in the warm-up.

Baudry underwent surgery on his Achilles before the end of last season and had been progressing well in training.

Despite the latest niggle, Ferguson expects the centre half to be fit to face Tadcaster Albion on Saturday.

He said: “He’s done a lot of work but he just felt a bit of stiffness in there.

“He should be fine for Saturday.”

Craig Alcock also missed Tuesday’s game and is unlikely to feature in a game until the trip to Guiseley on Saturday week.

Ferguson said: “Craig’s felt his ankle.

“It’ll be another week or so for him so you’re probably looking at the Guiseley game for him.

“He’s been unfortunate.”

New signing Alex Kiwomya is set to return to full training on Monday after a calf injury.