Shrewsbury Town prospect James Rowland impresses boss Sam Ricketts

The Town boss hailed Rowland’s full home debut and said the 17-year-old could ‘go home proud’ despite the heavy 4-0 Rotherham reversal after showing the Shrewsbury fans a glimpse of his ability.

Academy graduate Rowland earned himself the sponsor’s man of the match and pushed himself further into Ricketts’ first-team thoughts as two more players – Luke Waterfall and Scott Golbourne – trudged off injured to take Town’s casualty list up to eight.

Ricketts admitted ‘in an ideal world’ Rowland would have featured alongside a first-choice team.

But he praised the youngster, from Stafford, for standing up to the challenge after already admitting he wouldn’t think twice of including the midfielder in League One action

“He’s not empowering in his size or stature but he’s empowering because he’ll get on the ball, fight and never give up,” Ricketts said of Rowland, who was on the bench at MK Dons last weekend,

“He’s been very good in the EFL Trophy games last year which is why he earned the right to be with the first team all pre-season and why he played on Tuesday.

“He performed and never gave up with his attitude, getting on the ball and turning out of situations very, very well.

“Certainly, like I said to him, he could go home proud. The fans realise that, I’m sure they did.

“He had a shot, a good drive and shot and they applauded him. It’s really important these young players are given the platform to play and improve.

“Nobody was happy because we were beat. In an ideal world you can bring him into a strong side and let him be part of a strong side.

“Unfortunately that wasn’t to be, but he stood up to the challenge himself at 17 and I thought he was excellent.”

Golbourne injured his ankle on Tuesday and is likely to be out of contention for Saturday’s visit of Rochdale.

Waterfall, who came off early with a head injury, is likely to be fit but there is heavy interest in him from at least two League Two clubs.

They join Ollie Norburn (knee), Josh Laurent (thigh), Ro-Shaun Williams (hamstring), Daniel Udoh (groin) and long-term absentees Lenell John-Lewis and Ryan Sears (both knee) as unavailable.

Meanwhile, Abo Eisa should join Scunthorpe today.