Grant McCann was full of praise for Maxime Biamou as he netted his first goal for Rovers to send them on their way to a 2-1 win at Swindon Town.
The French striker endured a tremendously difficult time prior to joining Rovers, with injury keeping him out of the game for more than two years.
Biamou made his first start for Rovers at Swindon - and his first in competitive football for almost three years - and marked it with a goal after ten minutes.
“I thought Max was excellent when he was on the pitch,” McCann said. “We knew we probably wouldn’t get 90 minutes out of him and he sort of went after making the run into the channels to create the chance for Luke Molyneux.
“He’s a good player, you can see he’s aggressive. He’s winning everything, he can get hold of it.
“His goal was excellent, taking it first time into the top corner.
“It’s a really good first start for him and we’re really pleased.”
Biamou started in place of the injured Joe Ironside and McCann felt he brought the physicality of his fellow striker to the game.
“We missed Max when he went off,” he said. “You need that focal point, especially when you’re under pressure and we maybe could have done with it sticking a bit more.
“Both Max and Joe are really important to how we want to play, given the fact we want to play with wide forwards that are quick and want to run inside.”
McCann confirmed that midfielder Zain Westbrooke missed the game due to illness.
“Zain would have started the game,” McCann said. “I got a call in the morning from the physio to say Zain was ill overnight.
“It was a blow for us because we worked all week on the team and then last minute had to change it because he was ill.
“I thought George Broadbent came in and did really well. We have got high hopes for George and think he’s going to have a bright future at the club.”
