HAVING watched Northern Ireland’s World Cup dream end, I must admit I felt sorry for Rovers midfielder Corry Evans, writes Simon Garner.

It was an absolute disgrace that he was penalised for handball in the first leg of their World Cup play-off with Switzerland and to then be booked which ruled him out of the second leg made it even worse.

It will have hurt him, especially because they didn’t go through in the second leg so it will have been tough to take. I just hope that he’s a strong enough character to be able to deal with it.

The best way is to get back playing as quickly as he can, I know he is suspended for Rovers’ next match but being back around his club team-mates will help. He has to try and put it to the back of his mind and not hide away.

When I was playing, during games I might miss a sitter but you just have to keep plugging away, put it to the back of your mind and that’s where the mental side of the game comes in. You can’t hide away, you can’t be scared and have to try and deal with it as quickly as possible.

Getting back to Rovers and training with his team-mates could be a good thing, there might be some mickey-taking, that’s just what happens in football dressing rooms, but they will feel for him and want to help him through it.

With a third of the season gone, I think Tony Mowbray will be relatively happy but I would imagine he would be a bit disappointed with the home form, having already dropped 10 points at Ewood. You can’t let the top two build up too much of a gap as I know myself that being in the play-offs and the pressure that is associated with that isn’t the nicest place to be.

Rovers are moving in to one of the busiest times of the season and there would be no better time to put a run together.