WES Brown will make his return from injury by playing for Blackburn Rovers Under-23s in their Premier League 2 clash against Middlesbrough at the County Ground, Leyland tonight (7pm kick-off).

The former Manchester United and England defender joined up with Rovers at the start of pre-season following his release from Sunderland.

However Brown’s hopes of playing any part in the club’s summer schedule were wrecked when he injured his calf.

But the 36-year-old has trained without problem for the past week and he will feature as a trialist for the development squad in the first match at their new home ground.

Rovers boss Owen Coyle said: “Wes has managed to get a good week of training under his belt without any reaction to the calf injury and he’ll play tonight for the reserves.

“Hopefully he’ll get 60 minutes under his belt with the young players and, fingers crossed, he’ll come through that and we’ll take it from there.

“The important thing for Wes is he gets two or three weeks of continued training and continued game time under his belt.

“He’s a wonderful lad, he’s been fantastic around the place, he’s a proper player and a proper man, and fingers crossed he comes through the game tonight and then we’ll take it from there.

“We know he is a wonderful player, it’s just getting him in the position where he feels he can play week in week out.”

Season ticket holders can see tonight’s match for free on production of their season ticket cards.

General admission is £3 for adults and £1 for concessions.