Craig Conway believes Rovers have a chance to make ‘an impact’ in the Championship next season.

Conway was a scorer on the final day win at Brentford in May 2017 which wasn’t enough to stop Rovers slipping in to the second tier.

The 33-year-old, who signed a new contract with the club this week, was one of six players who started at Brentford and at Doncaster in April when Rovers secured immediate promotion back to the second tier.

With a positive feel around the club after the successful League One campaign, Conway is hoping they can use that to their advantage when they return to league action.

The wideman was delighted to secure an extended stay at Ewood Park and is excited about what the future holds.

He said: “I was obviously at the club when we got relegated and it was brilliant to get us back up, so I want to have another crack at the Championship, because I think we’ve got a good enough squad to really have an impact in that league.

“I’m so glad that we’re back up. I was gutted last year when we got relegated, as everybody was, but the feeling of getting back up was a great feeling.”

Conway has been with Rovers since January 2014 and endured some difficult times at the club.

He hopes their return to the Championship can be a continuation of the good times on the pitch which were created during the 2017/18 campaign as they finished runners-up in League One.

“There’s always been positivity around the squad, but I feel that everybody together - the club, the fans and the players - are all seeing where the club is going now and we’re heading in the same direction,” Conway told the club website.

“Over the last few years - and I can only speak for the time when I’ve been here - there’s always been a few little things happening off the pitch that have been a hindrance.

“So I think this will definitely help now, that there is a real positivity, everybody wants to go in the same direction and everybody is really happy with the promotion and being back in the Championship.

“We all want to kick on and I’m sure there will be a real buzz about the place when the fans and the staff turn back up for home games and hopefully that will continue, which I’m sure it will do.”

Corry Evans, signed in 2013, is the only player not to have come through the club’s academy to have been at Rovers longer than Conway.

By signing a new contract, which includes the option of a further 12 months, will take Conway in to his sixth season in the blue and white halves.

In that time he has been a firm favourite with the supporters, adding: “I’ve always felt at home here. I think the fans appreciate my hard work and hopefully I bring a little bit more than that, but there’s just something about the club, I feel for them.

“At the end of the day, Blackburn Rovers belongs in the Premier League and hopefully I can play a small part in that.”