Darren Moore was full of praise for AJ Greaves who made his first start in Sky Bet League One against Rochdale.
The teenager completed a full 90-minutes which came on the back of a cameo appearance of the bench in Rovers’ 2-1 win over Swindon Town last weekend.
Moore said: “AJ can feel really proud about his performance. He has been one of many young players who have been chomping at the bit for quite some time to get this chance.
“He has improved immensely during my time here with his training and how he works with the pros.
“We sent him out on loan earlier in the season to get some game time and he has come back and waited patiently for his chance. I told him to prepare himself for a chance soon because of the amount of games we’ve got coming up and he showed today how prepared he was to take this opportunity.”
In the game Rovers beat Rochdale 1-0 thanks to a first half goal from Jon Taylor who also made his first start since returning to the side after his brief stint out.
He said: “I have a lot of respect for their manager Brian Barry-Murphy. They’ve shown this season they can cause teams problems with their style of play and what they do.
“Concentration levels had to be absolutely spot on because although we may have seemed in control for most of the game, the second you switch off you can be punished. It only takes a few seconds to score a goal.
“We’ve been working hard on making it difficult for teams to have chances against us and really closing down gaps. It is still a work in progress but it was good to see those signs in the players today.”