Corry Evans believes relegation to League One helped Rovers press the re-set button.

And he hopes that after promotion back to the Championship, Rovers can start building for a brighter future.

Ewood Park hosted League One football for the first time in 37 years this term but bounced back at the first attempt.

And they did so in style, breaking records along the way as well as re-engaging with a fanbase left disillusioned by relegation.

Promotion was secured at Doncaster on April 24, 11 months on from a dark day at Brentford where even a 3-1 win wasn’t enough to maintain their Championship status.

But as Rovers’ longest serving player, having signed in 2013, Evans says the season could prove vital for the club moving forward.

He said: “It was great to finally seal promotion after last season’s disappointment.

“As the manager has said, it gave the chance for the club to press the re-set button and get the feel-good factor back among the players and the fans. It will be difficult next year but one that we’re looking forward to.”

Rovers started this campaign slowly and were hovering below the play-off spots before embarking on the first of their two long unbeaten runs.

And while Evans can’t pick out one defining moment of when things turned around in their favour, he says the long stretches without defeat gave the players real confidence and belief.

“When we were on that unbeaten run and lost one in 33, you go in to games full of confidence that we were going to get the three points on that day,” the 27-year-old said.

“I don’t think there was a defining moment.

“I just knew that we needed to keep putting wins on the board.

“Shrewsbury, who were fantastic all season, no-one expected them to be the team pushing us and Wigan, but we knew that we couldn’t afford to slip up and I think we showed that.”

Rovers were named as promotion favourites ahead of the season. Key to that tag was retaining the services of some of their senior players.

And given the pressure that was on heading in to the season, coupled with a slow start, Northern Ireland international Evans believes Rovers have achieved promotion with a sense of style.

He added: “I think we’ve entertained this year, scored a lot of goals and won a lot of games.

“Hopefully we can keep that momentum and take it in to next season.”