Stockport County correspondent gives verdict on new Doncaster Rovers right-back James Brown

Brown has joined Doncaster on loan from Championship side Blackburn Rovers for the rest of season while Knoyle has signed for Stockport County – the side Brown made 22 appearances for in the first half of the campaign.

The Free Press spoke to Stockport County correspondent Sam Byrne to get the lowdown on Irishman Brown during his time at Edgeley Park.

How did Brown fare in League Two?

Personally, I always felt Brown was a good squad player and would always do a solid enough job when called on.

It is probably more defensively that he may struggle - ultimately, without him ever looking particularly poor or making any glaring individual mistakes, that’s probably the area of his game that convinced Stockport to look elsewhere.

What were the circumstances behind his recall by Blackburn Rovers?

My understanding of the situation, even prior to the eventual ‘recall’, was that Stockport were looking at ending the loan as Brown wasn’t getting much of a look in, so it effectively suited all parties for him to return to Ewood Park and look elsewhere for minutes.

Brown started the season well as a right wing-back and was even used as a right-sided centre-half of a back three on occasion, and did OK in both positions. He got up and down reasonably well, and does have a terrific cross on him. He was unfortunate at Stockport not to end up with more assists than he ultimately got (two). But with the side looking inconsistent early in the campaign and other players around Brown still finding their feet and settling into the team at the time, his own performances dropped slightly and never really reignited again.

He never had a complete shocker or anything like that, but it became clear that Dave Challinor preferred another option in that position.

Challinor had hinted around the time of Brown’s return to Blackburn that he was looking for different attributes for the wing-back role the club utilises; maybe someone with a similar attacking intent as Brown but with more defensive solidity.

Brown has been billed as an attacking wing-back, would that be a fair assessment?

He’s certainly attack-minded and does have a great delivery on him at times.

I described him a few times earlier in the season as a terrier - he flies into challenges whole-heartedly and covers a lot of ground.

He undoubtedly has something to offer for any decent side at this level.