Bradley Dack has tempered expectations of supporters ahead of his prospective return, as he and Tony Mowbray continue to take a cautious approach to his reintegration into the first-team set-up.

That hasn’t stopped fans being excited by the prospect of seeing Dack in action for the first-team once again, a bumper crowd having watched him score in an 60-minute outing for the Under-23s against Brighton last week.

Game number three for the Under-23s should come against QPR on Monday in the Premier League Cup, with Dack looking to push towards 90 minutes, the minimum requirement before being deemed ready for a first-team call.

Dack is 11 months on from his second ACL injury, albeit to the opposite knee and with different surgery required, with his previous comeback taking three days shy of a year.

The 28-year-old played all 17 games between his Boxing Day return and subsequent injury against Brentford last March, scoring in the two games prior against Millwall and Swansea City, and he says it took him up until that point to start feeling himself again.

While it may be a more bit-part role this time, after two serious injuries, Dack will take whatever opportunities come his way, but is looking more towards next season.

“I know after two tough injuries I’m not going to be the Bradley Dack that everyone has seen in one or two games,” Dack told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“It probably took me eight or 10 weeks the first time and the first week I felt properly right was the week I got injured again.

“We’ve got to take it game by game, if I can chip in with a few goals and assists and I think it will be good to get a full pre-season under my belt and I can start from scratch with everyone else and build my fitness up that way.”

Manager Mowbray has played down talks of an imminent return for Dack who says he has a game in mind he would like to be back in the squad for, but not one he was willing to disclose.

He feels the performances of the team, with Rovers sitting third in the league, dictate there is no need for him to be rushed back which eases the pressure on his shoulders.

“It’s probably helped me that the team are doing so well and there’s not so much pressure to come into a team that’s doing really well and not having to come in and try and be the best player and fire us up the league because we’re already there,” he added.

“It probably takes a bit of the pressure off my shoulders and I can go about my business and trying to help the team as much as I can.

“A full pre-season I can get my real base fitness, with the confidence in my head that the knee is going to be fine, is what we’re working towards.

“The rest of the season, I hope I can play a big part in helping the team getting to where we want to and I’m trying my hardest to get there and I’m sure I can help the team, but we’re looking to next season as where we start again.”

Rovers were lingering in mid-table when Dack returned in December 2020, an unbeaten January had threatened to see them mount a play-off push before they fell away.

After a summer overhaul, Dack expected, like most people, for this campaign to be one for a rebuild and the integration of more home-grown and younger players.

Yet a six-game winning streak to finish 2020 moved them into automatic promotion contention.

Three games without a goal have seen them drop to third, but still way ahead of where many, including Dack, felt they would be at this stage of the season.

“I’d be lying if I said they hadn’t surprised me,” he explained.

“I think if you would have said that after 29 games we’d have been in the top two I think everyone would probably have laughed.

“That’s not because we’re not good enough to be there, it’s just the players we lost, the age of our squad and everything pointing towards it being a tough season.

“There was never any talk about relegation or anything like that because that wouldn’t come into our heads but the season before, we were thinking that we should have been challenging for the top six with the team that we had, but we didn’t.

“It was disappointing. To lose the players we did, it felt as though we were going through something of a rebuild, that’s obviously not the case because all the boys have been first class.”

Dack’s personality meant he was never going to feel down on his luck despite the unfortunate events of that 1-0 defeat against Brentford where he left the field on a stretcher.

He still bears the same smile, and said of his latest setback: “I see it as a part of football. I’ve been unlucky to have two bad injuries and it can be a cruel game but there’s people a lot worse off out there.

“I’ve only got so much longer left before the rest of my life so I’m going to enjoy it while I can.”

Dack returned to light training in December, before moving towards full-contact and then a 45 minute outing for the Under-23s against Leeds United last month.

His appearances have increased attendances but also improve results, with Mike Sheron’s side chalking up 10 goals without reply in victories over Leeds and Brighton.

The confidence began to return to Dack’s game, a fine left-foot finish got him on the scoresheet, with tricks and flicks soon following, as well as a perfectly weighted pass for Luke Brennan to make it 6-0 shortly before his departure to a big ovation.

Two serious knee injuries have robbed Dack of two years of his career, but he says in any other era it could well have forced him into retirement which enables him to take a positive approach.

“It has to make it stronger because if you’re not strong enough then you fall by the wayside and maybe stop playing,” he said.

“If it happened 20 years we might be having a different conversation.

“I’m lucky that I play in an era where technology has come on, surgery has come on, and it’s easier to get back from these injuries.

“I’m excited that I’ve almost finished this process again.

“I can’t ever go out there worrying about doing the same thing again because I wouldn’t be the same player.

“I didn’t have that mentality before, there’s nothing you can do about it. I know I’ve done everything I can in the rehab process to give myself every chance that it won’t happen again.”

Tomorrow's Premier League Cup game with QPR has been switched to the club's Academy from Leyland. Kick-off remains 1pm.