Joe Rothwell is the second Rovers player to be self-isolating having missed the defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Rovers had planned all week for the 25-year-old to continue his run in the team, and a start at the weekend would have been the first time he'd started four consecutive league matches for the club.

However, that run was brought to an end against Forest due to a period of self-isolation.

The Rovers squad were all tested for Covid-19 on Thursday, though manager Tony Mowbray wouldn't be drawn on the details of why Rothwell was forced to isolate.

He wasn't certain how long Rothwell would be self-isolating for, but believed it to be 10 days, with Rovers next in action on Wednesday when they travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford.

Rothwell will certainly miss that, and most likely the weekend trip to Coventry City, before being considered for a return to action.

“I’m not sure exactly what the situation is,” Mowbray said.

“As far I know it’s probably another week or so to go.”

Derrick Williams was also self-isolating in Ireland, and missed the weekend's game, with the defender having been caught up in the Covid issues suffered by the Republic of Ireland during the international break.

The 27-year-old had remained in Ireland after withdrawing from the national team squad, but is expected back in East Lancashire in the early part of the week.

And that will likely see him miss out against Watford, with Lewis Holtby also not yet back in the UK having been granted extended leave having attended the birth of his first child in Germany during the two-week break from action.

His absence, as well as that of Rothwell, was a big blow for Mowbray who saw his side fail to score for the second successive match.

He added: “Joe is a unique type of footballer, a ball traveller, with extraordinary speed and change of direction who can run past midfields and create chances for our strikers.

“We lacked that a little bit to the point that we had midfield players who are more structured, get it, move and pass it on, and that didn’t happen enough.

“We lacked individuality to create chances for the strikers.”

Rovers made four deadline day signings, but none of them were involved against Forest, with Mowbray now counting his options ahead of the midweek match.

Joe Rankin-Costello should shake off the hamstring issue that has troubled him for the last three weeks to feature, having trained towards the back end of the week.

With 11 players absent for the Forest fixture Mowbray had to call-up first-year pro Luke Brennan to the squad, eventually handing the teenager a late debut as Rovers went in search of a goal.

Brad Lyons was 19th man, with Rovers forced to filed a youthful bench given the unavailability issues faced heading into the game.

Asked how stretched his numbers were, the Rovers boss said: “We had Luke Brennan, he didn’t have a squad number.

“We had no-one left, and I’m not a manager who wants to put a team out with five or six subs to make a point to anyone.

“That won’t be the case, the young lads will get an opportunity.

“He’s got a Youth Cup semi-final coming up, and that’s where we were with our numbers.

“Our squad needed some help and some numbers, and with the schedule, you can’t keep asking the same players to go out and perform every three days.

“We needed some numbers in because when they aren’t involved we’re down to the Under-18s.”

Mowbray hopes the additions of Aynsley Pears, Barry Douglas, Tom Trybull and Harvey Elliott will add both depth and quality to his ranks and help Rovers push towards their promotion aim.

Both Douglas and Trybull have recent experience of getting out of the division, with three promotions between them in the last three seasons.

And highlighting the importance of adding experience, Mowbray said: “If you’ve got aspirations of getting out of this league then you’re not going to do it with a bunch of kids in a physical league.

“Time will tell whether they can get the job done for us.”