The Scottish winger came on in the closing stages of the 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
That was his first appearance since the November international break, where he picked up a hamstring injury playing for Scotland in their crucial World Cup qualifying victory over Denmark.
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The boss is optimistic Gannon-Doak can now use this coming international break, and the week off for FA Cup fixtures, to continue to build fitness and some form.
Ben Gannon-Doak. (Image: Richard Crease)
“I’m happy because he has gone through a difficult period when you had surgery, you come back to the team, to the training like slowly, slowly, and probably he hasn’t had his best minutes,” Iraola said.
“We were playing against ten and those situations one against one, you can feel he still needs these minutes, this freshness, to make the difference, but it's the first step.
“I think now we have also for him a very good spell to train normally with the players that are here, that will not be a lot.
“Maybe play some minutes with the Under-21s or use these two or three weeks that we have here to put him in a better place so he can be valuable for the end of the season.”