DONEIL Henry’s feet have hardly touched the ground since he was parachuted into the Blackburn Rovers starting line-up.

But the highly rated young centre-back, signed on a month’s loan home from West Ham United last Wednesday, reckons Rovers feels like home already.

It is been some first week at the club for the Canada international.

Fresh from making his senior English football debut in the 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday, he was then part of the Rovers squad that recorded a superb FA Cup 0-0 draw at Liverpool.

Understandably the more experienced and fit-again Alex Baptiste was preferred to Henry in the big Anfield clash.

But, with the on-loan Baptiste ineligible to face his parent club, the 20-year-old was swiftly brought back into the side for Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

And, just as he did at Hillsborough, Henry produced an accomplished performance that belied his tender years and his rookie status.

He marked Rovers nemesis Emile Heskey out of the game and it was his towering header toward a goal, deep into injury-time, that Jordan Rhodes turned home to settle the derby match in the most dramatic of fashions.

Little wonder, then, Rovers boss Gary Bowyer is giving serious consideration to keeping faith with Henry for today’s Championship encounter at Charlton Athletic.

“I’m really happy, it’s a great club, I’d heard nothing but good things about it, and they are all true,” said Henry, who joined West Ham in January on the recommendation of former Rovers captain Ryan Nelson,

“I’ve been here for a week now and I feel really settled and I feel like I’m part of the team.

“I’m going to keep on working hard for the club because it has shown me so much respect and support.

“I think as a player it’s so important that you are made to feel part of the team straight away.

“Gary and all of his staff and all of the players have been superb and I definitely feel settled and feel comfortable and confident here.”

Those words were music to Bowyer’​s ears when put to him.

“It’s always pleasing when you hear from a player who has only been here a week saying those things,” he said.

“I think it’s testament to the group, testament to the amount of research that goes into the players, and it’s testament to the staff here at Brockhall, and not just the footballing staff, but the whole staff, the support staff, the admin staff, the catering staff and the kit lads.

“We have such a family environment and everybody here goes out of their way to make people feel welcome and that’s one of the things we’ve stressed that we wanted back when we took over.”

Bowyer was delighted by Henry’s display in the hard-fought win over Wanderers.

“He was tremendous,” he said.

“He was put back into the side and he was up against Emile Heskey, who has been around, knows the game inside out and still has a big physical presence.

“He grew into the game, his defending was first class, and we learned more about him being a threat in the opposition box.”

Henry, who used to play under Nelsen at FC Toronto, loved every minute of his home debut.

 “I felt like it was completely different to the Sheffield game,” he said.

“With Emile Heskey I always felt he was going to win a share of those 50-50s but I think we defended really well and when they did get through it was a great save by Steeley (Jason Steele) to get us out of the mess.

“That shows the type of characters we have. I can see already we have guys out there who get you out of situations or patch-up situations and we all work hard for each other.

“I’m really enjoying it.”