THERE was a sense of frustration all round for Corry Evans in the second half of last season.

Rovers were sliding towards League One and the 26-year-old was unable to play his part because of a long-standing groin problem.

He managed just 30 minutes of football in 2017, as a second half substitute in the win over Newcastle on January 2, but injury forced him to miss the remainder of the campaign.

And watching Rovers battling against the drop and unable to contribute was hard to take for the Northern Ireland international midfielder.

He said: “That was the really frustrating thing as well. You’re going to games and you want to be involved and you can’t do anything.

“It’s hard to describe the frustration I had last season. I think maybe Tony came in too late.

“If he had come in a lot earlier we wouldn’t have been in the situation we are now.

“Hopefully it’s looking up for Blackburn next season with Tony (Mowbray) in charge.”

Dealing with the injury is nothing new to Evans, who has already had surgery to try and free himself of his groin troubles.

He made just 21 appearances last season, having also been forced to miss large parts of the 2013/14 campaign.

And Evans admits he was playing through the pain barrier for the early months of the 2016/17 season.

A break at the start of 2017 looked to have been just what the doctor ordered as he neared a return to full fitness before heading off with Northern Ireland during March’s international break.

But it flared up again, forcing him to miss the remainder of the campaign and working towards a return ahead of the 2017/18 season.

“It’s been ongoing for quite a while now. I was sort of playing through it the first six months of the season when Owen Coyle was here,” Evans added.

“Then it got to just after Christmas and I sort of decided between myself and the physios to take a break which was good, I needed it at the time.

“I came back feeling good and fresh and unfortunately I broke down again when I was away with the internationals (in March).

“It was very frustrating. I came back and ended up being out for the rest of the season.

“It was really hard to take but I’d like to think I’m over that now and I’m just looking forward to the new season.”

Having suffered with the injury for some time however, Evans is hoping that his knowledge can help him in his quest to endure an injury free season.

Tony Mowbray will manage the midfielder’s workload in a bid to get him out on the pitch as frequently as possible.

Indeed, Evans was brought off in the closing minutes of the win at Morecambe after taking a knock to his ankle after sliding to block a shot.

On the long-standing groin injury, he said: “It’s quite hard to put your finger on the exact spots.

“It’s lower abdominal muscles and high abductors, they just flare up and from time to time get a bit achy when you do too much or sometimes if you have a couple of days off and you start back it gets a bit stiff and takes a while to get going.

“It’s about knowing my body and trying to use my experience from the past six months to get myself through it.”