Doncaster Rovers press notes - Jon Taylor update, supporter pledge and Grimsby preview

They'll be backed by more than 1,200 supporters at Blundell Park. Ahead of the game manager Grant McCann addressed the press. Here are the best bits from his pre-match media conference:

Senior update

Jack Senior exited Tuesday's bruising encounter with Salford towards the end with a knock that McCann has since said was hamstring-related.

Issuing a fresh update three days on, the Rovers chief says the full-back will miss out tomorrow as they await further news: "He had a scan and we're still waiting to hear back the report. He's not trained obviously but hopefully it's not too severe."

McCann also offered more positive news on Zain Westbrooke - "building up his fitness really well" - and maintained the hope the midfielder could be back by late February or early March.

Better news on Taylor

Following last weekend's win over Tranmere, McCann broke the news that Jon Taylor could well be out for the remainder of the season having suffered a fresh knee injury.

Six days on the Rovers boss gave a firmer update, and delivered an outlook that is a lot more positive than first thought.

"He'll have an operation on Thursday next week," McCann said. "We're hoping it's only going to keep him out for two or three weeks. The physio has spoken to Jon's surgeon and he's quite happy with the knee. All it is is a bit of floating bone that's in there that just needs removing. Jon is champing at the bit to get back. We need to keep him active up until that operation."

The fans

Rovers will take a 1,000-plus following for the fifth time this season when they make the short trip to Grimsby tomorrow. That is some effort from a fanbase that has only seen their side win twice in 15 outings on the road so far.

McCann does not take that support for granted. Speaking to the Free Press he said: "We've not given them enough to shout about away from home. The last few have been an improvement but I think four of the next six are away and we need to make sure we get a good points return and give those die-hard fans that travel the length and breadth of the country a bit more to cheer about. We all want that."

Grimsby

As mentioned, tomorrow's game will see a sold-out Rovers following cheer the team on in Lincolnshire. The home fans are also expected to turn out in their numbers but it has been far from happy at Blundell Park this season, especially in recent months.

David Artell's side enter tomorrow's contest without a win in five on home soil, shipping 18 goals in that time.

It's led to nervousness in the Mariners' fanbase at recent home games. So can Rovers exploit that? McCann hopes so.

"Regardless of what club you're at, you can always feel abit edgy and that tension," he said. "We've had that ourselves so we know how it feels. But we feel in good form going into the game and we have to make sure we get the plan right and come away with three points.

"Since David's gone in there they are a footballing team that wants to play. That's a threat we have to be wary of. Like always though, we're just trying to focus on how we can beat them."