Jon Dahl Tomasson saw plenty of his progress in his side as Rovers ran in 10 goals across their two pre-season games in Austria.

Tomasson named two different XIs for the double-header against TSV Hartberg and saw his side record 6-0 and 4-1 victories.

Joe Rankin-Costello hit a hat-trick in game one, while strikers Sam Gallagher and Harry Leonard both scored, and claimed assists, in the second match.

It was an excellent exercise for Tomasson and his players who were cheered on by a pocket of supporters who had made the trip from East Lancashire.

The friendlies had been scheduled to be two games of 90 minutes, but that was reduced to 70 due to the temperatures in Austria, and also the fact that Rovers were without three first-team players.

The absences of Harry Pickering, Arnor Sigurdsson and Jack Vale cut the numbers available to Tomasson, but those that did get on the pitch caught the eye with their quality on the ball and also relentless work off it.

“You always want to see progress when you’re working hard in pre-season,” Tomasson told the Lancashire Telegraph at the Profertil Arena.

“We saw two good games. There was quick football, we were creating chances and there were a lot of chances as well.

“We were dominant with and without the ball and also played on the front foot as well defensively.

“They were two good games and there were a lot of minutes going into the legs, which is important at this time, and there were some great goals.”

Rankin-Costello’s hat-trick in game one, which included a penalty, was the star of the piece, but Lewis Travis came close to outdoing him with a spectacular 40-yard strike.

Ryan Hedges and Leonard completed the scoring as Rovers hit the Austrians for six.

Dom Hyam headed Rovers into an early lead in game two, before Sam Szmodics doubled the advantage.

Youngster Charlie Weston made it three before Gallagher rounded off the scoring soon after a Hartberg consolation.

“The attitude was brilliant. They’re good boys with a great spirit, and we saw that,” Tomasson added.

“The mindset was that they all wanted to perform and to do it in the right way, doing all the right things.  That was the big advantage.

“When you do the right things, you’ll create chances.

“We moved with few touches, made great runs and played forward instead of to the side.”

Rankin-Costello was named on the teamsheet at right back, but found himself all across the pitch in an all-action display which saw him score three times from close range.

And Tomasson said: “Of course when you play on the ball he’s not a right back, more or less a freedom to move where he wants to create overloads, and to stick to my principles.

“It was great to see a hat-trick and to see goals.”

Rovers announced the change in game length on the morning of the fixture, a decision Tomasson felt was wise.

“Yeah, of course it would have been great to play 90 minutes, but if you look at the size of our squad and in the heat, I think it was the right decision to play two 35 minute (halves),” he explained.

“If you played two lots of 90 minutes I think we’d have been dead.”

Pickering wasn’t risked with an ankle knock which saw Pat Gamble slot in as an unfamiliar left back in game one.

Weston, who played 45 minutes across both games against Accrington, played over an hour against Hartberg and took his goal well.

Reflecting on the trip as a whole, as the players flew back on Saturday evening, the head coach said: “There’s been some youngsters around the team this week, I think it’s been a really good experience for them.

“Some of those young players need to learn a lot, but they’re still young, and you need to give them time.

“(Jake) Batty was better than the last game, Sam Barnes after a long time out, Charlie Weston and (James) Edmondson did well, and Max has been training with us and learning about the game and it’s been a great experience for a young boy to be away with the first-team and overload them with all of those meetings.”