Jack Rodwell believes that he has taken a big step towards getting back to first team football with Blackburn.

Rodwell signed with Rovers this summer after his contract at Sunderland had expired. The midfielder has experienced his share of injury woes in the past few seasons.

But now he is determined to come back. And it all started with his under-23 outing for Rovers against Arsenal.

"I'm getting better every day," Rodwell said to the Lancashire Telegraph.

"This was the first step.

"I'm feeling fit, and it was great to get 90 minutes under my belt.

"Me and the manager have a good relationship, we talk on the training pitch, and we are assessing it day by day.

"It felt really good. When the manager (Tony Mowbray) asked me to play I felt it was a good chance to get minutes under my belt and I got the full 90 which was really good.

"It was great to be out there.

"He told me to see how I felt in the game and let the manager (Damien Johnson) know but I felt good and wanted to continue."