BLACKBURN Rovers captain Grant Hanley is aiming to be fit for Scotland’s crucial Euro 2016 qualifier with Republic of Ireland next month.

Hanley missed the final 15 matches of Rovers’ season with a calf injury that proved to be worse than he first feared.

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But the 23-year-old returned to training at the back end of last week and, with more than a month to go before the Dublin showdown on June 13, he hopes to convince Scotland boss Gordon Strachan he can play some part.

Hanley, one of Strachan’s first choice centre-backs, said: “It’s been really frustrating to miss the run-in through injury.

“From being out with just a little calf strain, which we hoped would only keep me out for two to three weeks, to miss over two months and the last 13 league games, has been really, really frustrating.

“It’s never nice to end the season when you’re not playing, so I’ve just got to concentrate on getting myself fit now, having a good summer and coming back strong.

“I’m back running now but I’ve had a couple of setbacks along the way, so I’m just going to take my time and get myself fully fit.

“There’s obviously an international game for Scotland against Ireland in June but that will be up to Gordon Strachan if he wants me to be involved or if he wants to leave me out because I haven’t played in a while.

“I’ll certainly be doing everything I can to try and get myself a game.”

Hanley could feature for in-form Rovers U21s in one or both of their final Premier League Division Two matches of the season.

The first comes tonight at St James’ Park against Newcastle United (7pm) and the second follows on Thursday against Bolton Wanderers at Rovers’ Academy in Brockhall Village (2pm).

Eric Kinder’s side will go into the double header on the back of three straight 1-0 league wins and a valiant U21s Premier League Cup final defeat to Southampton.

Rovers U21s boss Kinder, speaking after his side’s 1-0 home victory over Wolves last Monday, said: “It was a good week to be fair but it was also a contrasting week.

“If you look at the final against Southampton, where we played ever so well and took an outstanding academy right to the wire, we played in front of 12,500 people at a magnificent stadium.

“So, to then play two games in the league at training grounds, psychologically it does affect players.

“But I’ve been really happy with how they’ve reacted. They could have just downed tools, they could have said, ‘we’ve got to a final, let’s just go through the motions’.

“But we went Derby, we scrapped and we fought and put our necks on the line and we end up with a 1-0 win. And what you saw against Wolves was just like Derby.

“What has developed over this season is a desire and an enthusiasm to win a game and I thought their attitude was magnificent.

“You look at the side, you see young Lewis Mansell up front and Lewis Hardcastle in midfield, they played 90 minutes on the Friday and had to do that again on the Monday, and they also had a six-hour road trip to Southampton and back and the emotions of losing a final.

“The only thing I can say is they are learning from it and they’ll be better players and will understand the game more.”