It’s been a long few months for Rovers defender Ollie Younger after the injury he suffered just four days before the start of the Sky Bet League Two season.
The 23-year-old overstretched during a training session and knew straight away he had done some serious damage.
He said: “It was four days before the first game of the season and we were starting to really step it up before the Bradford game.
“We were in a box and I’ve stretched for a ball. As I’ve gone for it my heel slipped and unfortunately in that I ruptured my hamstring and tore one of my adductor muscles.
“It was so frustrating especially with the timing of it, but that’s sometimes the way football goes after barely missing a minute of pre-season.”
The following days and weeks were testing both physically and mentally, but Younger had the support of the club and his family as he recovered at home initially.
“I had a few weeks back at home with my family which was a positive outcome, but it still took me a while to get my head around it,” says Younger.
“I was in pain for a few weeks after so it was difficult, so my family were great in keeping my head up and focusing on the end goal.
“I’m really close to my mum, dad, brother and nana so to have them around me was really important in taking care of what I needed.”
In recent weeks, the No.12 has stepped up his recovery with straight-line running on the grass, and has enjoyed being back around the rest of the group.
He added: “When I came back in with the lads it made me feel like a footballer again, although I was only in the gym it was good to be in the building again.
“I’ve been out for a long time now and I’m at the phase where I’m starting to go out on the grass and do a bit of running.
“It’s still very boring and tedious as I can’t push myself that much yet, it’s more about getting the movement back into my legs.
I’ve got to work towards ticking different things off like changing direction and increasing the speed of my running, but that is all part of the recovery process and will come with time.”