BLACKBURN Rovers are hoping that Charlie Mulgrew won’t be out for any longer than his previous spell on the sidelines with a groin injury.

Mulgrew was forced off just 16 minutes into the weekend draw with Birmingham City after suffering a re-occurrence of the injury which saw him miss two games last month.

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The Scotland international returned in 16 days after his last setback, with Rovers hoping for a similar timescale this time around.

“He tweaked his groin again,” manager Owen Coyle said.

“You couldn’t make up some of the things that happens in terms of injuries we’ve had since the start of the season.

“We will have to wait and see how long that will be, hopefully not too long.

“Last time it was 16 days or so, depending on what the extent of that is.

“We will ascertain that and then go from there.”

When he has played, Mulgrew has been a vital player for Rovers since his summer move from Celtic, but injuries have restricted him to just 15 appearances so far this season.

That makes him an early doubt for the FA Cup clash with Blackpool, though Danny Guthrie, Anthony Stokes and Craig Conway all returned after spells out to be included against Birmingham.

However, Corry Evans missed out once again with his long-term groin problem which has seen him make just one substitute appearance so far in 2017.

Mulgrew’s departure from the field prompted another change to the Rovers back four, with Darragh Lenihan moving in to central defence, having started at right-back, to partner Gordon Greer.

Teenager Ryan Nyambe slotted in at right-back, and Coyle was pleased with his showing.

He added: “Lenihan went in alongside Greer and Ryan Nyambe came in and I thought acquitted himself very well, so I was really pleased again.

“Having gone a goal behind, and then lost one of your best players, it would have been easy to have felt sorry for ourselves but they picked themselves up, showed the heart for the fight, and that will stand them in good stead as we move in to that second period of the season.”