Rovers youngster Sam Barnes is pleased to be back in the thick of the action after a frustrating spell on the sidelines.

The 22-year-old defender was ruled out for the best part of a year after suffering an ACL injury in a behind-closed-doors game.

Barnes came off the bench against TSV Hartberg during the recent training camp in Austria and returned to the starting line-up against Barnsley at the weekend.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he told the club website. “It’s been 11-12 months now since I last played, so it’s been exciting to get the boots back on and be back on the pitch playing centre-back.

“I’ve spent a lot of days in the gym thinking about this moment of being back on the pitch, so I just enjoyed every moment of being out there and playing with the lads again.

“I felt good during the game. We played a high-intensity game, which is what the gaffer wants.

“It felt good to be moving the ball around again, wrapping passes through and being in a game where they had two good, physical, string strikers and just enjoying the battles, which you don’t get as much of in training.

“I don’t think they were missing many players from the team that got to the play-off final last year, so the calibre of players they had was good to come up against.

“It was good challenge for myself coming back from a long-term injury and also the other younger lads who may not have played against players like that before.

Barnes admits his injury and rehabilitation was a challenging period but believes he is stronger mentally because of it.

“As soon as I step foot on the pitch, I feel strong,” he continued. “I know that I’ve put the work in to be able to feel confident in my knee.

“Fitness-wise, I’m getting there. I’m still a little bit off, which is to be expected after a year out.

“But I played 55-60 minutes and felt good, so I just need to progress on from that, get more minutes in the tank and get closer to full match fitness.

“I think the work I’ve done in the gym and also with my psychologist, I think that’s put me in really good stead for coming back.

“I’m probably a different person from what I was before my injury – both stronger physically and mentally – and I think that will put me in good stead for the season.

“Once I’m back feeling 100 per cent, I think we’ll see a real improvement.”

After such a long spell out of action, Barnes is now eager to get as many minutes on the pitch as possible.

The youngster is open to the prospect of heading out on loan as he aims to continue his development and make up for lost time.

“My main focus at the minute is just on getting back playing, getting back enjoying playing football, getting minutes in the legs and seeing where that puts me,” he explained.

“If I’m playing here, then great. If not, then I’d maybe look to go on loan.

“But at the minute I’m just enjoying playing football here and getting minutes under my belt and getting back from the long time I’ve had out.

“I sat down with the gaffer and Remy (Reijnierse) at the start of pre-season and their message was that there’s no pressure on me - just to be patient and no-one’s expecting me to be full speed at it after being out for as long as I have been.

“I know personally I’m quite a competitive person and I want to play the best I can, so every time I step foot on the pitch I’m trying to get into the gaffer’s eye-line and play the best football I can.

“But at the minute, it’s just a case of getting the minutes under my belt and just enjoying being back.”