TOM Lawrence has told Blackburn Rovers fans they will see the best of him the more matches he gets under his belt – as Jordan Rhodes steps up his fight to be fit to face Bolton Wanderers.

New boy Lawrence made his Rovers debut in Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Brighton & Hove Albion just over 24 hours after he completed a loan move from Leicester City.

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The young attacker showed flashes of a talent that was honed at Manchester United during the hard-fought clash on the sun-kissed south coast.

Lawrence, however, was not entirely satisfied with the performance he produced on his first competitive appearance since March.

But the 21-year-old believes his 83-minute run-out at the Amex will stand him in good stead for the remainder of his Ewood Park stay.

And once he is fully up to speed he aims to bring assists and goals to a Rovers side that paid the price for failing to take any of the numerous chances they created against Brighton.

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“Personally I felt I could have done a lot more but I’m just glad to get some minutes under my belt and I feel a lot better for it,” said Lawrence.

“I didn’t feel at my best out there but it felt good to get minutes under my belt and hopefully I’ll be ready come the next game.

“I played a few games game in pre-season, but not many, but I’ll get sharper with every game that I play.

“And when I do I want to get on the ball, get turned at the defence, run at them, and then hopefully create something and score more goals.”

Lawrence is surprised that Rovers have yet to record their first win of the Championship campaign judging by the amount of opportunities they carved out against the unbeaten Seagulls.

But the Wales Under-21 international is confident that maiden victory will come at home to Bolton on Friday.

“The lads have shown in every game that they are just inches off it – it will come sooner rather than later,” said Lawrence, who rates his best position as a ‘number 10’ behind a striker.

“The lads were gutted (on Saturday). We should have won the game but we didn’t take our chances.

“The boys never gave in, we went at it until the last minute, and we’ve just got to keep fighting.”

Adam Henley and Jason Lowe were ruled out of the Brighton encounter after falling ill overnight at the team hotel.

But the duo are in line to return to the squad against Bolton after joining in full training yesterday.

Star striker Rhodes was also back out on the Brockhall grass.

But, while he did not train alongside the main group, he is making good progress on the ankle injury that ruled him out of the loss to Brighton and the 1-1 draw at home to Cardiff City.

Midfielder Chris Taylor, who was training alongside Rhodes, is also getting closer to making his return after undergoing a groin operation at the start of the month.

John O’Sullivan (back) and forward Chris Brown (knee) are Rovers boss Gary Bowyer’s other injury concerns.