Doncaster Rovers: New injury concerns for James Coppinger and Liam Mandeville

Mandeville twisted his ankle mere seconds into his first Rovers appearance of 2017 on Saturday and is facing two to three weeks on the sidelines.

Coppinger is suffering from an issue with his heel but boss Darren Ferguson is confident he will not be forced to take the influential midfielder out of the side.

“It’s nothing serious as you can see with the way he’s playing,” Ferguson told The Star.

“It’s just a little knock on his heel and there’s a bit of swelling there but I don’t think it’ll be a problem.

“Looking at what we’ve got coming up with two long, tough away journeys and another tough one at home against Luton, it might be a chance for me to utilise the squad.

“But I also have to be very mindful that they’re playing very well at the moment.”

Striker Mandeville came off the bench against Morecambe on Saturday, completing his comeback from a hamstring issue suffered in the New Year’s Eve trip to Mansfield Town.

But he now faces more frustration with another spell out denying him the opportunity to add to his ten goal tally for the season.

“It’s not good news for Liam,” Ferguson said. “He’s probably going to be a couple of weeks.

“He twisted his ankle. He just went over on it on a bit of grass as soon as he came on.

“He’s in a boot, it’s quite swollen and it’ll be two or three weeks before he’s back.

“Liam’s had a bad time of it recently with him getting injured at Mansfield.

“That’s football, going from such a high to a low.

“He was very disappointed when he came in on Monday morning but you just have to get on with it.”

Mandeville’s fellow forward Will Longbottom has also been sidelined for two to three weeks with injury.

Long-term absentees Gary McSheffrey and Aaron Taylor Sinclair returned to first team training this week.