ADAM Henley has to get to a position in which he can challenge Ryan Nyambe for the Blackburn Rovers right-back spot before being considered for a first-team return.

That’s the view of head coach Tony Mowbray who has been impressed with current incumbent Nyambe in his seven games in charge.

Henley hasn’t played for Rovers’ first team since August but has got three Under-23s games under his belt as he looks to return from a hamstring injury.

But he will have to prove his fitness, and impress in training, if he’s to dislodge Nyambe from the right-back berth, according to Mowbray.

He said: “Nyambe is doing well for us, I like his human traits as well as his physical attributes that he brings.

“He’s a focussed trier of a kid who wants to get better, works every day after training on his delivery and different aspects of his game.

“I have seen players like Ryan before with fantastic physical attributes who sometimes think that when they have played for the first-team they have made it.

“He’s made of different stuff, he trains every day after training and is asking the coaches to do extra crossing, heading or bits of his game that he needs to work on.

“At this moment I want to keep him going and Adam has to get to a level where he can compete with that and see where it takes him.”

Henley, 22, is six games short of reaching a century of appearances for Rovers since his debut in November 2011.

Despite starting the opening three games of this season, Henley hasn’t featured since coming off at half-time in the 3-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic on August 13.

Mowbray added: “He has trained for three weeks now, not long after I first came were his first days back.

“He has had a 45 minutes and a 60 minutes (for the Under-23s) but he’s not quite ready yet in my mind to travel and to impact on the team.

“He needs to keep training, impressing in training, and play freely and then I have to make a decision on whether he’s worth a place in the team.”