Doncaster Rovers: Gary McSheffrey hails impact of ex-Portsmouth man Ben Close and gives fitness update

The central midfielder has caught the eye in his two appearances since returning from an IT band injury which kept him out for ten months and early signs of a promising partnership with skipper Adam Clayton were on display in the win over Crawley.

Close admits he’s able to do ‘a bit of everything’ in the middle and stamped his quality on Saturday’s game as he helped Rovers to a 4-1 victory.

Doncaster chief McSheffrey said: "He sees the pass out wide, he sees the overlapping full-back and switches of play. He's got good technique to punch it out, pay through them and switch play.

"He’s really important, he brought a bit of steadiness to things.

"It looked a bit shaky at times early on but when the ball comes to him he tries to get his foot on it.

"Him and Clayton can buy a pass with each other now and let us get off the pitch and build a little bit better. He will be really good.”

There was concern from all quarters when Close went down moments before he was replaced by Harrison Biggins at the weekend.

But he was able to leave the field OK and did not require treatment from physio Michael McBride.

McSheffrey said: “He came off with cramp, which is good news that it wasn't a recurrence of anything.

"We'll let him recover now for a couple of days, get a good week’s training into him and he will be ready to go again.

“I was going to bring him off regardless.”