Why Doncaster Rovers' players won't get bored on five-hour journey to Plymouth

Rovers’ squad set off on the first leg of their 600-mile round trip to Devon today and will travel back to Doncaster after the game.

And Wellens intends to put at least some of the time on the motorway to good use.

“We’re going to show a Plymouth game on the way down,” said Rovers’ boss

“They can get into groups of three and four, watch it and have some dialogue, and then they can come back to us with some information about what they’ve seen.

"That might kill an hour!

"The other four hours they can watch Netflix, listen to music, do whatever they want.”

Rovers face another long journey on Tuesday when they visit Ipswich Town. They will travel to East Anglia on the day of the game.

Wellens said: "It’s a mental challenge for us because I’d say six of our players won’t have had an away trip as far as this. It's then come back and another long trip on Tuesday.

"They need to manage that in terms of how they get the best out of themselves on the Saturday, recover and then prepare for Tuesday.

"It’s up to us to advise them and manage them but they also need to take it on board.”

Rovers are yet to win on the road this season but travel in good spirits after back-to-back victories against Morecambe and Manchester City U21s.

Plymouth sit fourth in the early League One standings and remain unbeaten at Home Park.

The Pilgrims were seconds away from going top of the table at Portsmouth on Tuesday night but Sean Raggett scored an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time for Pompey.