Rowlands Eyes Championship Opener

Martin Rowlands looks ahead to the new Championship season as he enters the final stages of his road to recovery.

The Irish international has been on the road to recovery since injuring his anterior cruciate ligaments against Derby County in January.

The 30-year-old played a positive part in his rehabilitation on Tuesday night as the R`s defeated Forest Green Rovers 2-0 at the New Lawn.

Speaking after the win to QPR.co.uk the former Brentford midfielder assessed his display and his recovery, and is hopeful of playing a part in the opening game of the season against Ian Holloway`s Blackpool.

"I feel fine now after the game, I`ll have to see how it reacts overnight," he said.

"As long as there`s no swelling and no pain through the knee for tomorrow (Wednesday) during the recovery session then hopefully I can get more minutes Friday and Tuesday and then the Southampton game which is the week before the season. So hopefully I`ll be in contention for the 8th August.

"I`m a good friend of Ian`s, I know his side will come down to QPR battling as they always do, his teams are always the same.

"He`s a great man and I can`t speak highly enough of him but on that day I will definitely want to be beating his team."

The R`s number 14 had no problem getting stuck into his opposition during his time on the field and that committed nature has made him a hit with supporters during his time in W12.

It was Rowlands first competitive football for six months against Rovers and despite initially being pencilled in for half and hour, he played the entire first half as he remains ahead of schedule.

"I felt really comfortable out there and I`m obviously delighted I played a full half.

"To be fair they`ve been holding me back a couple of weeks, I`ve not missed a day`s training so I`ve been raring to go and obviously delighted to get my first 45 minutes under my belt.

"I totally forgot about my knee to be honest. When I was out there you get caught up in the game and your playing, sometimes when play goes dead obviously I had a slight thought but to be honest I felt comfortable and I was happy to go into all the tackles"

The club captain also had appreciative words for boss Jim Magilton, his seventh boss in nearly as many years at Loftus Road: "Ever since he`s come in everybody`s worked well and done really well and it`s nice to get words of encourage and know he thinks highly of you and I can repay that and do really well when I`m in the side."

Rowlands is looking forward to playing a part in tomorrow`s clash against Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium, Rangers fifth friendly of the pre-season campaign. Rangers will be looking to continue their unbeaten run on home soil after the opening defeat of Aldershot.



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