Sean O'Driscoll believes he has a weaker squad at his disposal than the one which won promotion to the Championship for the first time in 50 years.

Rovers confounded their critics by finishing 12 points above the relegation zone in May following a dreadful start to the campaign, but the sale of Player of the Year Matt Mills and Richie Wellens during the summer has left a gaping hole, according to the Rovers manager.

O'Driscoll told the club's official website: "We're not as strong as last year after losing two players, so we're in a bit of a difficult position because the job of trying to improve the team takes a lot more resources than what we've got.

"We've got to do it in a different way. We're trying to hit the same players with different problems and different challenges."

O'Driscoll added: "We're in a different phase. Ideally, if we had kept what we had got and added one or two, then I think we would have moved on a little bit, but losing two players is inevitable for a club of our size.

"We're probably a little bit behind where we want to be, but that's no fault of anybody's, that's the industry we're in."