Tony Mowbray feels work behind the scenes has paid off for Ryan Hedges who ‘grasped’ his opportunity on only his second start for the club in the win at Preston North End.

Hedges impressed on a first start since his debut in February, after signing from Aberdeen, with only 155 minutes of football under his belt before being thrown in at Deepdale.

Operating from the right of a front three he looked a danger all night, and most pleasing to manager Mowbray was his work out of possession.

He put that as the reason why Hedges hasn’t featured more since signing for the club, but after going close to an equaliser off the bench against Stoke City on Easter Monday, his chance in the side came against Preston.

Hedges helped Rovers to a 4-1 win to keep their play-off hopes alive, and Mowbray said of him: “He is a very good footballer, he’s trained extraordinarily well and has been a bit frustrated.

“Yet I think he had to learn the expectation of out of possession football and he showed me, and has in training the last few weeks, that he’s grasped it.

“It’s not about when we have the ball, he works really hard out of possession and cuts passing lines off, denies space to the opposition and he has a wand of a left foot when we win the ball back and has a wand of a left foot.

“It was just a matter of time, you can’t just expect to sign someone who has never done what you do and stick them in the team and expect it to function. It doesn’t work.

“He’s spent a lot of time listening, we’ve been showing videos, giving him the expectation and I think the penny has dropped and he’s looking like a really good footballer.”

Hedges will now hope to keep his place for the final two games of the season, with Bournemouth the visitors to Ewood Park on Saturday before a final day trip to Birmingham City.

It has been a tough time for Rovers’ January recruits, with Hedges short of match minutes prior to his Preston showing, while Ryan Giles hasn’t been part of the matchday squad for the last two fixtures despite being fit.

Deyovaisio Zeefuik was back in the 18 after injury, his first inclusion in a squad since the defeat at Fulham in early March, while Dilan Markanday is now back in training after tearing his hamstring on debut at Hull City in January.

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