Joe Nuttall scored for the third game running for Rovers Under-23s and looks to have regained the hunger which saw him finish as the top scorer in Premier League 2 football last term.

That’s the view of Under-23s boss Damien Johnson who says the 21-year-old is putting in extra work behind the scenes to maintain his sharpness.

The striker has played for both the first team and Under-23s this term, but Tony Mowbray felt Nuttall had lost some of the desire which saw him score a hatful of goals last season having arrived as a trialist last summer.

Nuttall netted four in a Premier League Cup win over Doncaster last week and followed that up with the second goal in a 3-1 win over Swansea on Monday.

Despite plenty of interest, he missed out on a loan move away from Rovers in September, but could benefit from a spell away should it be sanctioned next month.

On Nuttall, Johnson said: “We always talk about that when lads go up in to the first team squad on a full-time basis which Joe had done, but not played regularly but missing games for us, you can fall between the cracks a little bit in terms of the intensity of your training and match minutes.

“Maybe Joe suffered a bit from that, but the onus is always on the player, and individual, to make sure they keep themselves going.

“In the last month Joe has done that and he’s taken on board the manager’s messages.

“When he first came in, the desire to earn a deal, you could see the hunger in his eyes and that fire in his belly to get that contract and keep pushing on.

“He’s been asking to do extra sessions with our group in the afternoon, he’s been doing that for the last month, and I think we’re seeing the benefits of that now.”