Dan Butterworth has had a season to forget – with two separate back injuries ruling him out for the majority of the campaign - but is on the comeback trail.

The second back problem came after a red-hot period of form, scoring four times and laying on one assist in the space of six matches after missing the first 11 weeks of the campaign.

Butterworth is highly-rated at Ewood Park, with still two years left to run on his contract, and spent much of pre-season working with the first-team.

The 20-year-old took to social media to provide an update on his injury, writing: “Had my last scan Friday. It’s now time to wrap up with the last bit of rehab and start progressing. I can’t wait to get back out there.”

Rovers Under-23s saw their campaign drawn to a close last month, and Billy Barr’s group haven’t trained together since the season was suspended in March.

Joe Rankin-Costello and goalkeeper Joe Hilton have both been training with the first-team group, having been among the 27 players tested, and subsequently trained.

Time may run out for Butterworth to feature this season, but he’ll be hoping to impress Mowbray once again when he gets up to full flight.

Having missed the opening three months of the season, Butterworth returned with a brace in the Under-23s win at Southampton, before netting against Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Leicester City.

But another troublesome back injury curtailed his season, much to the disappointment of Mowbray.

Speaking earlier this year, he said: “Danny, who did a lot of pre-season with us and did well, it will be good to see him get his boots back on and do what he does.

“He can eliminate players, score off both feet, travel with the ball, and was in our plans, along with John Buckley, to give them game-time and push on this season and try and feed them in to the first-team environment.

“He’s obviously had a bit of a setback and we’ll see how he gets on when he’s back.”