A back-up goalkeeper seems like an easy life until you’re thrust into the action at the drop of a glove, and while Aynsley Pears could now be set for a period in the limelight he will do so on the back of a timely appearance under the Leyland lights.

Pears was sat on the bench doing his best to keep warm in the freezing cold conditions of the bet365 Stadium, heated ever so slightly by Reda Khadra’s goal. Though no sooner had he re-taken his seat than he was required on the pitch as Thomas Kaminski hobbled off with a lower abdominal issue.

His task was simple, keep the ball out of the net and Rovers would move into the play-off spots, but with no competitive action since January, he could have been forgiven for showing a few signs of nerves.

He punched clear a corner within seconds of his arrival but was well shackled until the fourth minute of the seven added when he looked to anticipate a left-wing cross and moved across to his left, only to have to redirect his body to the right to palm away a Danny Batth flick to ensure a shared clean sheet stayed intact, and also Rovers’ lead.

That was only his fifth Rovers appearance, a first competitive outing since the FA Cup defeat to Doncaster Rovers in January and first in the Championship since in over a year.

Yet a crucial element to the story is some vital minutes earlier that week when he turned out for Rovers Under-23s in their Premier League 2 game with Arsenal.

He may have conceded three, beaten by one close range finishes and two crackers from outside the box, but without him Rovers would have been further behind, with two excellent saves to deny Folarin Balogun and one to keep out Omar Rekik.

He will have gained confidence from that, not least having missed the entirety of the pre-season with a back injury, with his only other outing since January having been in the Lancashire Senior Cup defeat to Accrington Stanley.

That injury kept Pears out of the opening four matches of the season, as well as the chance of minutes in the Carabao Cup, and it was Jordan Eastham who was back-up to Kaminski earlier in the campaign.

He will likely be No.2 to Pears should Kaminski miss out against Preston North End, and possibly beyond, with Antonis Stergiakis currently sidelined with a foot injury.

Pears is only 23 and signed on deadline day for an undisclosed six-figure fee from Middlesbrough on a four-year deal.

A positive is that he has previous Championship experience, with 28 appearances in all, conceding 36 goals and keeping nine clean sheets in the process, including one for Rovers against his former club last season.

His fleeting outings have shown his shot-stopping abilities and reflexes to be strong, his weakness last season having been his ability to dominate his six-yard box and also with the ball at his feet.

“He's come from Middlesbrough where his last few managers have included Tony Pulis and Neil (Warnock), they play slightly different, if not massively different to the way we're asking him to play. It's foreign to him to be a part of the build-up,” Tony Mowbray said at the time.

However, with Rovers no longer playing such a high line and not using their goalkeeper as part of the build-up that will be one less thing to worry about.

He had a debut to forget, conceding after just eight seconds in the defeat to Reading and also made an error for the goal which knocked Rovers out of the FA Cup against Doncaster Rovers.

Such long gaps without games are par for the course for a No.2 and Pears has big shoes to fill should Kaminski, a consistent figure ever since his arrival from KAA Gent, be out for any length of time.

Though this is an opportunity Pears will have been waiting for and he certainly appears to be a popular figure in the dressing room given the reaction to his cameo appearance.

“It was a surprise but nice to get back out there with the lads again,” he said.

“The boys are doing brilliantly at the minute, I came on for the final 30 minutes or so and managed to keep the clean sheet intact.

“It’s what I’m paid to do and you have to be ready for anything and everything. You deal with whatever comes your way.

“As a goalkeeper coming on when the team’s 1-0 up, you just want the score to stay the same and to get on the bus home afterwards.

"If it’s my turn to play against Preston then I’ll be ready. I have that game mentality for every match and that won’t change."