Town boss Rosler in need of defensive cover

The defender enjoyed a loan spell at Town in the second half of last season but though he is set to return to Highbury on Friday, it will be with Preston North End as new boss Alex Neil told Rosler the youngster is part of his plans for the new Championship campaign.

That leaves Rosler in need of a left-footed or left-sided centre-back, having used two trialist central defenders in last night’s 3-1 defeat at Tranmere Rovers.

The club does not wish to name the duo but Rosler says the club they are actively looking to recruit another defender.

He said about the trialists: “Two young players, two very young players, came in at short notice.

“They had only one training session with us.

“I could not ask for much more to be fair, it would have been unfair, but we wanted to see the type of player they are; can they play on the left-hand side?

“Both are right-footed, this was the reason why one player should have played each half in the middle and also on the left-hand side.

“I spoke to Alex Neil. He said Ben made a big step and he (Alex) is very happy in what he saw in pre-season so far.

“He is planning with him for the Championship and that is why now we try to look around at what is on the market.

“That is why two players came in last night and then we will see how we fill that position.

“Obviously Ben Davies is not coming back so obviously we need to fill that.”

Rosler made 11 changes from the side that beat Bolton 2-0 on Saturday.

He congratulated former Town boss Micky Mellon for his Tranmere side’s performance but admitted he was surprised by his team’s display both with and without the ball.

He said: “Congratulations to Micky, a very good performance for Tranmere.

“They looked a footballing side who really wanted to win.

“We were disjointed and we didn’t impact the game with the ball and we didn’t impact the game without the ball. That was a surprise for me.

“I think we will speak about it when we have had a good night’s sleep and I have watched the game back.

“I think now we have to take it on the chin; until Tuesday we had a very good pre-season.

“Tuesday was a blow but it is better to have it now than in two weeks’ time.

“We will sit down and discuss it.”