BLACKBURN Rovers’ Academy youngsters were given an invaluable insight into what it takes to make it to the top during a question and answer session with star striker Jordan Rhodes.

The Scotland international, who came through the youth ranks at Ipswich Town, spoke openly to the Rovers hopefuls at Brockhall about his grounding at Portman Road and the sacrifices he made in order to carve out a successful career as a professional footballer.

Rovers’ head of academy Eric Kinder has lined up further first-team players to visit the Academy over the coming months.

He said: “Jordan was the ideal person to kick off these events, as he is a terrific role model for our young players.

“He answered all of the questions really honestly and I appreciated him giving up his time to come down.”

Meanwhile, Rovers’ Under-18s play their second game of the season at home to Manchester City today (kick-off 11am at Brockhall).

They kicked off the campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough, following that up with a friendly against Bala Town last Friday, which ended 2-2.

The next game for Rovers U21s is away to West Brom on Monday (kick-off 7pm).