Papa John's Trophy: Doncaster Rovers receive significant injury boost ahead of Lincoln City trip

Rovers physio Michael McBride has declared the trio, along with striker Reo Griffiths, ‘injury-free’ as the treatment room at Cantley Park finally begins to clear.

Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey is once again expected to make several changes to his starting XI, although more senior players could be involved at Sincil Bank.

He said: "We will look quite strong. There will still probably be one or two youngsters.

"We will give valuable minutes to players that need it and we will probably have a strong bench in case we need to make any impact changes.

"Some of the lads won’t be capable of 90 (minutes) yet. They will probably play 45 minutes or an hour.”

Close, Olowu and Barlow took part in the pre-match warm-up before Saturday’s match against Swindon Town with centre-back Olowu also named on the bench.

The 22-year-old played in the first three games of the season before limping off against Lincoln in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

His colleagues have not kicked a ball competitively this term.

Discussing the impending return of the three, McSheffrey said: "We know they are not just going to hit the ground running.

"They have missed a lot of football so it’s about building them up."

Griffiths is about one week behind the others in his recovery and could take part in full training this week.

Speaking to the club’s media channel last week, McBride said: "From my point of view the four of them are now injury-free.”

Tom Anderson, Josh Andrews and Ollie Younger remain out injured for the foreseeable.

Lincoln beat Doncaster 3-0 when the sides met in the Carabao Cup last month.

They are currently top of Group E, having beaten Barnsley 3-0 in their opening game.

The Imps named a strong side for that clash and thrashed Bristol Rovers 6-3 on their own patch at the weekend.

Doncaster are second in the group after picking up a draw against Newcastle last time out and a further bonus point for winning the deciding penalty shoot-out.

Two teams from each group will qualify for the regionalised second round on November 30 with the winner guaranteeing themselves a home draw.