DARRAGH Lenihan admits promotion back to the Championship would make the hard road back from injury worthwhile.

Lenihan’s six month absence with a fractured metatarsal ended last Tuesday when he made his first-team return against Portsmouth.

The Irishman admits it has been a tough time since sustaining the injury on the opening day in August for which he underwent surgery.

That left him bed bound, with the 23-year-old revealing that breaking down his recovery in to six week sections helped keep his spirits high.

He said: “Promotion will make those lonely times worth it. Not just for me but for the fans, the club in general.

“To get a promotion under our belts would give everyone the boost we all need.

“It’s been tough, it’s not nice watching and being out for six months I had to almost start pre-season over again. Not only that I was bed bound for six weeks so that was tough but I’m glad to be back.”

On his recovery, which also included two outings for Rovers Under-23s, he added: “I broke it down into sections. I broke it into six weeks blocks.

“The first six weeks I was doing absolutely nothing fitness wise as I was in a boot and on crutches.

“I couldn’t put any weight whatsoever on it and I think that was the most frustrating part. I did a bit of cycling and swimming - non weight bearing sort of stuff.

 “I ended up building it up and building it up and started light jogging. It was a slow process and you need to tick every box before you can even think of getting back.

 “We did everything right and fingers crossed it doesn’t come back.”

Lenihan made his return as a second half substitute in the 2-1 win at Portsmouth after featuring for Damien Johnson’s side in victories over Reading and Fulham. And he was quick to claim an assist, despite the heavy deflection, for Adam Armstrong’s late winner.

He said: “I will claim it but anyone watching it back will see it takes a few deflections first.

“Arma has taken the goal brilliantly, he scored two brilliant goals and we have players who can score from various positions on the pitch and we just need to keep things solid at the back because we’re confident we can score goals in most games.”