Daniel Ayala is looking to clock up the minutes in Rovers’ final friendlies to put him in the best shape possible heading into the new season.

The Spaniard played the opening half of Rovers’ behind closed doors friendly defeat to Everton, his first outing of the close season.

Ayala sat out the win at AFC Fylde seven days earlier with no chances being taken with his fitness after a frustrating 2020/21 campaign. His final-day outing against Birmingham City, his only one of the calendar year, was just his 10th appearance of a frustrating season having joined as a free agent.

Rovers travel to Bradford City on Saturday, before hosting Leeds United on July 28 and then rounding off their pre-season friendlies with a trip to Bolton Wanderers on July 31.

Those are opportunities for Ayala to step-up his fitness as he looks to be playing a more prominent role moving forward.

He said: “Hopefully I can play for 60 minutes and then after that 90 minutes, and hopefully everything goes well.

“As a player, everyone wants to play. Last season was extremely hard for me, but you just have to get on with it and hopefully this season will be a lot better.”

Tony Mowbray saw Ayala’s final-day appearance as an important one for the 30-year-old to hit heading into the summer.

He played twice for Rovers Under-23s, first prior to his opening appearance of the season in September and then again ahead of the Birmingham City visit in May.

That allowed him to get vital match minutes into his legs, having not taken part in a pre-season with a club.

Indeed, he signed for Rovers a week into last season having not played for former club Middlesbrough since New Year’s Day 2020.

And after the run-out against Everton, Ayala said: “It’s always good to be back playing.

“After a bad season last year, I just want to start with a good pre-season and hopefully I can play a lot of games this season.

“I arrived a bit late last year and I didn’t do pre-season. We then had a few injuries in the backline and then I had to play before we decided it was right to play, but sometimes you have to play when the team needs you and then I was playing catch-up all season, so hopefully this season, with a full pre-season under my belt, will be a lot better.”

The weather for the Finch Farm friendly, decided by a first-half strike by Jean-Phillipe Gbamin, was more reminiscent of Ayala’s native Spain than the north west, where Mowbray handed vital minutes to his squad.

As well as Ayala, defensive partner Darragh Lenihan also got his first run-out of the summer along with goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and striker Adam Armstrong.

There was a first-choice look to the backline, with Kaminski between the posts, Lenihan and Ayala forming a central defensive partnership, with Ryan Nyambe and Harry Pickering as full backs.

After the break Rovers turned to youth once again, defenders Sam Barnes, Louie Annesley, Tyler Magloire and Hayden Carter all getting a run-out against a strong Everton side.

With still almost three weeks to go until the Championship opener against Swansea City, Ayala believes plenty more graft lies ahead for the squad to get them ready for the 46-game campaign. And he added: “It was a good test against a good side and I think we did well, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.

“When you play against these type of players, that’s what you want to do.  You want to test yourself and see how you can do against these players.

“I think we did well, but we’ve got a lot of work still to do.”

Rovers made just one addition in the heart of their defence last summer, that being the arrival of Ayala on a three-year deal.

They supplemented that in January following an injury to him, and Scott Wharton, with the loan signings of Jarrad Branthwaite and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Derrick Williams was then sold to LA Galaxy in March as the Rovers central defensive unit underwent something of a reconstruction.

Wharton is hoping to be back in action within two months, after being on the sidelines since rupturing his Achilles in December, but it is an area of the pitch that requires some decisions to be made.

Carter had a fine loan spell at Burton Albion last season, and is wanted again by League One clubs should Rovers allow him to leave, while there is also interest in Magloire.

However, with a shortage of numbers, both are currently required at Ewood Park, with the club yet to make any signings.