LEON Best believes he is ready to rediscover his best form after scoring his first goal for Blackburn Rovers as they drew 1-1 in their season opener at Derby.

Best came off the bench to level in the 89th minute, after Ruben Rochina had been forced off with a suspected dislocated shoulder.

The striker had a miserable first season at Rovers, after arriving from Newcastle for £3m, missing much of it with a cruciate knee ligament injury and then failed to find the net in eight appearances at the end of the campaign.

But Best hit the post twice before firing home Rovers’ equaliser yesterday, in an encouraging display by Gary Bowyer’s side.

The 26-year-old admits it was a great relief to open his account for the club, as he now looks to force his way into the starting line-up.

“I needed that to get myself back to where I want to be and obviously get myself in the team now,” he said.

“I don’t deserve to start just because I was a big signing, I have to prove myself to the players and the manager that I deserve to start and this has done me no harm.

“I have had a long time out of football and I love playing football, so I’m just delighted to be back playing and my goal has made me a little bit happier.

“They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, there are ups and downs in life, last season was a down for me but now I’m at an up.

“It feels like a fresh new start and it’s great to have a goal to start it off.”

Best celebrated his goal with Rovers physio Dave Fevre, who helped him during his recovery from injury.

“I told him I’d come looking for him and I did do,” he said.

“I saw some of my friends in the stadium so I saluted them and made my way to Fevs.

“I had a few little chances and I was thinking it wasn’t going to happen, but we kept going and I thought we did well. I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t win.

“For the first one that hit the post it hit my shoulder, although if it went in I would have celebrated like it was a good connection!

“Then for the second one I didn’t think it was going to get across and then I was at full stretch.

“But it was a great ball for the goal from Tayls (Chris Taylor)."