Darren Moore on how Doncaster Rovers will stand up to this incredibly demanding period

But he says rotating his squad will be a must during the next few intense weeks.

Rovers are currently in the midst of a run of nine matches in 28 days, with two energy-sapping wins in the last week.

After the five month break due to the shutdown of football and a shortened pre-season, Moore admits only time will tell how well his players will stand up to the rigours of a condensed season.

But he has been delighted so far with the fitness levels of his side and believes that will continue through Saturday’s clash with Crewe Alexandra.

“We’re pleased with where they’re at physically,” he told the Free Press.

“We had a pre-season where we needed to get a lot of work into them in a very short space of time.

“It had to be controlled, it had to be detailed.

“I was really pleased with how we managed to max out the opportunity that we had to get work into them.

“Now it’s just maintaining that robustness to the demands of the league.

“We’ll also look at training and detailing training specifically for the needs.

“At this time with the multitude of games we have coming up there doesn’t need to be any lengthy training sessions because the games are coming thick and fast.

“The squad will get used and rotated at this time because of the demands of the league.”

“The proof will be in the pudding as they say, when it comes to coping.

“We’ll see where we are.

“It was good to see the response from Saturday into Tuesday because it was really two really tough games.”

Reece James, Taylor Richards and James Coppinger are all players who could potentially be handed starts against Crewe after being named among the substitutes for Tuesday’s excellent win over Ipswich Town.

James had starred in last weekend’s win at Portsmouth but Moore said he felt the need to opt for fresher bodies on Tuesday.

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