Tony Mowbray is seeing glimpses off the bench, and in training, to make him believe Bradley Dack is getting close to being back to his best.

That could see Dack handed just a second start since returning from 13 months out when Rovers host Preston North End at Ewood Park tonight and look to do the double over their near neighbours.

The 27-year-old’s return to action on Boxing Day was 369 days after sustaining his knee ligament injury, and he has since followed that up with seven first-team outings, but only one from the start.

He scored in a 90 minute outing for the Under-23s earlier this month, and ahead of North End’s visit, Mowbray said: “Bradley is about back, not at his best, he’s still chasing his fitness after a year out.

“He’s worked really hard and while I don’t think he’s at 100 per cent Bradley Dack and what we know he can do, I think he’s nearly there to unleash.

“He’s just about there.”

Dack has been used in every match since his Boxing Day return, amassing 220 minutes in the process. Mowbray has stressed that getting Dack up to speed won’t come at the detriment of the team, but is equally keen to get him back fully fit as quickly as possible.

“I’ve spoken about the balance of getting him fit, how much game-time, but don’t let the team suffer by getting Bradley fit,” he explained.

“He’s got a bit to go, but Dack in a possession-orientated team that’s creating chances, he will score goals and add them to (Adam) Armstrong’s goals and I believe we’ll win lots of matches.

“At some stage he’ll have to play the minutes, even if he’s struggling, to get him to where he needs to get to. When he’s fit he will make a difference to this team.”

Rovers have almost exclusively operated in a 4-3-3 system throughout Dack’s absence from the side, having previously operated with their star man in his favoured No.10 role in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

And Mowbray says it remains a balance to fit Dack into the way he’s looking to play.

“Dack coming back adds a different dimension to our team, yet I have to fit him into the team,” Mowbray added.

“We’ve generally played three very mobile attackers to get us to where we’ve got to and all the chances we’ve created.

“With total respect to Bradley while he can be mobile and is fit, that’s not his strength, his strength is using his body, brilliant finishing off either foot.

“We have to get him in and around the box so we have to push teams back with our possession, in the past we’ve gone pretty direct into Danny, but we’re not that team now.

“We have to play over, round through, to get in and around the opposition box and we know that if we can create chances with Bradley Dack around he’ll take a fair percentage of them.”

The Rovers players trained on the Ewood pitch ahead of tonight’s games, where Mowbray saw some of Dack’s magic first-hand.

He said: “It’s a shame there wasn’t footage of training on the pitch, he scored the winner when we were playing seven-v-seven, Bradley scored the winner and he went off celebrating like Charlie George in 1971.

“The care for each other in our squad is fantastic and Bradley is a very integral part of that.”