Bradley Dack is making strides towards a first-team return as Tony Mowbray vowed: ‘he’s coming’.

Dack is eight months into his comeback from his second anterior cruciate ligament injury and is pencilled in to feature for the Under-23s in the New Year.

The plan is for the 27-year-old to play three times for the Under-23s and then be in contention to feature for the first-team once again by the end of January.

There will be caution upon his return having had a setback at the nine month stage of his previous injury sustained in December 2019, but no shortage of excitement at the sight of Dack getting back on the training pitches.

“He’s not far away, he’s coming and how exciting for this team that we can add Bradley Dack’s quality and experience and another player, like Lenihan, who has got some experience and to have another voice out there to help the young players to achieve victories.,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

...........................................................................................................................Bradley Dack says he is starting to feel like a footballer once more as he prepares to make the final steps towards his long-awaited return.

Dack has been out since his injury in the defeat to Brentford in March, his second long injury lay-off in as many years.

Supporters were excited by shots of Dack back on the training pitch last week and the man himself has felt himself making great strides towards his return.

That is expected to come in late January, with the requirement of three Under-23s games before being signed off by his surgeon and then ready to challenge for a first-team spot once again.

Those could come against Middlesbrough (January 2), Manchester City (January 7), Tottenham Hotspur (January 17) and Leeds United (January 24) - two of which are at Leyland.

Dack has played 131 times for Rovers, but only 16 times between his first ACL injury in December 2019 and his second 16 months later.

He is desperate to get back playing after plenty of hard work in the physio room once again, however he says the process has felt quicker this time around.

“Returning to training, not too far away, I feel pretty good and could even do warm-ups and non-contact stuff, I feel ready for that,” he explained.

“It will probably be the end of December when I’m back into training and then going into January hopefully fingers crossed it will be full contact, three Under-23s games that I will have to be a part of for the surgeon to sign me off.

“I’ll have to do 45, 60 and 90 and then I’ll be available for selection.

“There’s a couple of games we’ve earmarked and we’ll have targets.

“We have a date in mind.”

Dack completed his phase of straight line running to move towards shorter, sharper, twisting movements ahead of his return to light training and then full contact at the turn of the year.

“The last six weeks we’ve really gone straight up and I've come a long way, feeling a lot better,” he added.

“I’m coming up to the eight month post-op period where everything starts to come together and that’s what it’s felt like.

“I’m starting to feel more like a footballer again.”

Manager Tony Mowbray has been encouraged by Dack’s progress and is keen to welcome the influential attacker back into the fold.

With Dack having suffered a setback nine months into his previous comeback, which eventually took three days short of a year, there will be no rushing the 27-year-old but his manager says the finish line is in sight.

He added: “He’s progressing fast now, he can smell the end line.

“It’s been a long, long time.

“I don’t think we’ll see him in the team until mid-January but he will be out there training and you’ll see shots of him joining in some passing drills over the next few weeks.

“It will be middle to end of January before he sneaks onto the bench and gets 15 or 20 minutes.”

Dack is present at every Rovers home game, watching from the substitutes bench, but raised an interesting point that leaves him even more excited by his return.

“I haven’t played infront of fans since December 2019 which is a long time in your career,” he told the club website.

“I can’t wait for that moment for the first time the ball goes in the back of the net.

“It’s not the same watching, I love coming to watch the games, giving my input to the boys as one of the senior players and I think I have to use my experience to help these boys because the team has a chance. Hopefully when I come back I can help on the pitch.”

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