Yet another big injury blow for Doncaster Rovers

The 22-year-old picked up the injury in the Carabao Cup tie at Stoke City but the severity of the problem was only fully discovered after a scan this week.

It is a further blow to the defensive plans of boss Richie Wellens who has already seen skipper Tom Anderson out of action while youngster Ben Blythe is currently isolating after contracting Covid-19.

Wellens sees the injury as a particularly big blow for John, who was in good form prior to being sidelined.

“I think he got it after about five minutes at Stoke away,” he said.

“It was really innocuous. He went to do a Cruyff turn and his back just went and he keeled over.

“As soon as we’re getting strikers back, we’re losing defenders.

“I think Cam was one of our best players at the time. He was performing really well.

“So it’s difficult to take for us and it’s difficult for him to take as well.

“Cam is disappointed because he thinks he was just hitting top form.

“We’re not quite sure when he’ll be back because he needs to see a bone specialist.”

The Rovers boss says John’s absence reduces his options for setting up his defence as well as halting the centre back’s own progress.

“It was a big opportunity for him at the time,” he said.

“And it gave us the opportunity for us to go to a back three. I don’t really want to do that but the balance of Tom Anderson, Ro-Shaun Williams and Cam John is really good.

“And there’s Ben Blythe as well. He would probably have started on Saturday but he’s out as well.”

Wellens confirmed Ethan Galbraith and Pontus Dahlberg are both set to feature in Saturday’s trip to Wigan Athletic after being away on international duty.

Galbraith trained with Rovers on Thursday with Dahlberg due to return to Doncaster later in the day.

Kyle Knoyle has been passed fit after struggling with an issue over the last few weeks while Anderson is likely to return for the clash with Morecambe next Saturday.

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