Niall Mason is grateful for the faith shown in him by Darren Ferguson after starting in all five of Rovers’ pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2017/18 Sky Bet League One campaign.
The 20-year-old joined Rovers permanently at the end of last season after a successful loan spell from Aston Villa, and feels he owes a lot to the manager.
“He’s always shown faith in me, sometimes he pushes me and that can be tough but I feel that brings out the best in my performances,” he said.
“I always felt that there aren’t too many managers at this level that are better than him, for a young lad like me he’s great to learn from.
“I’ve become a lot more aware of the tactical side of the game while working with him, his knowledge is great and I like the way he wants the team to play.”
Mason played the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at the Keepmoat Stadium and believes the game was a good test of their ability to cope well when they don’t have possession of the ball.
“It was a tough game for us, they’ll do well in the Championship as they’ve got a lot of quality which they showed tonight,” he added.
“When you play against a higher ranked team you’re bound to see less of the ball so we have to be a bit more tactical which is different to what we were used to last season.
“Moving up a level we have to accept that in some games we won’t have as much possession, so we have to be more disciplined and concentrate when we don’t have the ball.”