BLACKBURN Rovers players may be pushing for a strong finish to their Championship campaign – but their players won’t have faced many more difficult tasks this season than a group of Ribble Valley schoolchildren.

Four of Gary Bowyer’s stars were put on the spot by youngsters at St Leonard’s CE Primary School in Balderstone yesterday.

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Corry Evans, Matt Kilgallon, Jason Steele and Lee Williamson visited the Commons Lane school as part of a drive by teachers to increase pupils’ interest in reading.

The quartet shared stories of their favourite books and then fielded questions from around 60 students.

English subject leader Jayne Rear, who organised the event with the club, said the children were delighted to see some of their sporting heroes in the flesh.

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Mrs Rear said: “We have been doing a big push on reading throughout the school in terms of enthusing the kids to read.

“We really wanted some positive male role models to talk about the benefits of books and reading and Blackburn Rovers were kind enough to offer to come along for the afternoon.

“The players spoke about their favourite things to read and books they would read with their own children.”

The audience included boys and girls studying at Key Stage One and Key Stage Two.

Mrs Rear said: “The kids absolutely loved it.

“Quite a lot of them are big Blackburn fans so it was great for them to be inspired by the players they know.”