IT is coming up to two years to the day since Jason Lowe suffered the injury which has restricted him to just 24 appearances in the past two seasons.

Given he turned out 123 times, for club and country, in the three campaigns before that, little wonder the Blackburn Rovers midfielder describes his prolonged spells on the sidelines as ‘frustrating’.

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Indeed there were instances after he sustained a stress fracture in the 1-1 friendly draw with Stoke City at Ewood Park on Sunday, August 3, 2014 that Lowe wondered whether his career was in jeopardy.

They were, in his own words, ‘dark days’.

But, after a second operation led to a successful return to the Rovers starting line-up at the back end of last season, Lowe is now looking forward to enjoying his football again.

The 24-year-old midfielder, speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph after making his comeback, said: “It was very tough being out injured for so long because you see the other lads buzzing for the next game.

“You can go and watch the game, and you can be sat on the bench with a cup of tea, but when you see the lads in the dressing room, ready to go and fight for the three points, it’s difficult.

“And when you do have a reoccurring injury it does cross your mind, ‘is it the end?’ “But I’d like to think I’ve gone about it the right way. I never let a day go by when I’ve not tried to get something from it, and playing toward the end of the season, it allowed me to go into the break strong.

“I’ll look after myself and then hopefully get back on the waggon.”

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Lowe will be aiming to impress Owen Coyle during this week’s training camp in Austria.

The new Rovers boss has an abundance of options in the centre of the park with Hope Akpan, new boy Jack Byrne, Corry Evans, Danny Guthrie and Darragh Lenihan all aiming to be in his starting line-up come the opening game of the campaign at home to Norwich City on August 6.

Lowe, too, will be determined to push himself to the forefront of Coyle’s thinking.

But, after coming through the most testing time of his career, the academy graduate will be glad to be back out there.

“I just want to start enjoying my career again, enjoying playing games and football and hopefully the dark days of the injury are behind me,” said Lowe, one of several Rovers first-team players going into the final year of their contracts.

“The frustration was that it was the same injury keeping me out but hopefully I’ve rectified that problem.

“I’m feeling strong and I’m good to go.”