Matty Blair updates on his fitness after outing for Doncaster Rovers U23s

The midfielder completed 45 minutes for the club's U23 in Tuesday's 3-0 defeat to Rochdale after the groin injury which has kept him out since September.

And he feels ready to make his return to the senior side - though may need keeping on a leash over the next few days.

"I can't wait," Blair said. I'm champing at the bit.

"I don't know where that one 45 minutes leaves me in terms of squads going forward but I'll be banging the drum to try to get involved.

"I'll probably always think that I'm ready."

It was expected that Blair would miss only six weeks with his injury but it was discovered around a month into that recovery that there had been a misdiagnosis by the assessing specialist.

Surgery followed, pushing his return back to a projected 12 weeks but he is now ahead of schedule and likely to be involved at senior level in the next couple of weeks.

For now, he is enjoying any minutes he can get with the U23s.

He said: "It's very good. I enjoyed that, getting 45 minutes.

"I had to pick my lungs up at times but I'm very happy.

"I think the progress since the operation has been very good. We're ahead of schedule ad it all feels great so I'm delighted to be back sooner than expected for the 12 weeks after the operation.

"It's been frustrating but these things happen. We were very unfortunate and it was through no fault of myself or anyone at the club, other than being told it was one injury when in fact it was another.

"It was frustrating at the time but I was over it quickly because there's no point crying over spilt milk."