Grant's McCann's hope for Doncaster Rovers v Middlesbrough as he makes Hull City observation

Michael Carrick's team visit the Eco-Power Stadium on Saturday (2pm) - the second of back-to-back home games against Championship opposition for Rovers. And whilst McCann will have no doubt been pleased by watching his side record a 4-0 win over Hull City on Tuesday, the reality is that it came with caveats.

Tim Walters's side were under-cooked with the first hour of the game seeing a vastly inexperienced side deployed. It was only for the last 30 minutes of the contest that the East Yorkshire outfit put up a fight, once their senior players were on the field.

"I hope they're stronger and come with the first team," McCann said, when asked what he is expecting from his side's penultimate pre-season outing before the big kick-off on August 10, making a clear reference to the strength of Hull’s starting XI – that comprised of players with less than 60 appearances combined.

"That's nothing against Hull because their youngsters are obviously good players but we were hoping the team that finished the game would be the one that started. This is why we picked these two games.

"We wanted them to give us that test that we need at this moment in time, in pre-season. Hopefully Middlesbrough can give us that on Saturday."

The Free Press understands that more than 1,400 tickets have already been snapped up by Boro supporters, meaning the attendance on Saturday is almost certain to surpass Tuesday's gate of 3,080.