Ryan Hedges challenged by Tomasson after Ben Brereton departure

Ryan Hedges has been challenged by Jon Dahl Tomasson to boost his numbers infront of goal.

It comes after the attacker made a positive start to pre-season as he scored one and assisted the other in the second friendly against Accrington Stanley that ended 2-2.

Hedges was on hand to finish off a fine team move before teeing Tyrhys Dolan up for the leveller soon after.

The Welshman, who turned 28 on Saturday, finished last season with four goals and four assists, across his 48 appearances.

He made the second most appearances of anyone in the squad, in a number of roles, but after Rovers missed out on a play-off spot via goal difference, and have since lost top scorer Ben Brereton to Villarreal, the onus will fall on the other options within the squad.

While Tomasson is targeting more incomings, he is looking for players such as Hedges to push towards double figures for both goals and assists in the upcoming season if Rovers are to enjoy another productive campaign.

“There’s things personally and collectively that the gaffer wants us to work on and the game was a good exercise for that,” Hedges said of Saturday’s pre-season opener.

“People can read too much into results in pre-season. The only result that matters is the first game on August 5. It’s obviously nice to get goals, but I think the result is irrelevant.

“On a personal note, I was happy to chip in with a goal and an assist. That’s something the manager has said to me, to get my numbers up, in terms of goals and assists, so to get one of each is very promising and hopefully I can carry that on.

“It’s up to me to get into more goal-scoring opportunities and get myself into positions to be able to finish, and it was really good that I was able to do that.

“We’ve obviously lost Ben (Brereton Diaz) to Villarreal, and we wish him well, but we need to fill that deficit of goals, so that’s up to the players still at the club, like myself, to chip in with more goals and more assists.”

Rovers returned to pre-season training on June 20, giving them a seven-week build-up to the new season.

The first of friendlies came at the Wham Stadium on Saturday before a 31-man squad travelled to Austria on Sunday.

The trip overseas will conclude with the second of the friendlies against Austrian Bundesliga side TSV Hartberg.

That will be made up of two 90-minute matches, giving the squad further chance to impress.

Hedges, who captained the side in the second game, said of the close season period so far: “I think it’s been really good.

“That’s what you want, you want to be playing games. We’ve had a really good two or three weeks of pre-season on the training pitch, but to get out and get 60 minutes into the legs feels good. Nothing can replicate a game situation.

“Pre-season has been enjoyable so far. Obviously the way last season ended, everyone was raring to go and to try and go one better.

“Missing out on goal difference was bitterly disappointing, but it’s up to us now to kick on and try to go one step further.

“The lads have come back in really good shape and the gaffer keeps saying that we’re ahead of where we were last season, so that’s obviously pleasing to hear. The new lads have come in and taken to his ideas really well.”