Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray says he fears that Bradley Dack has suffered another Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury during his side's 1-0 defeat to Brentford on Friday night.

Dack, who missed almost the whole of 2020 with an ACL injury suffered in December 2019, was stretchered off in second-half stoppage time after a collision with Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, as the Blackburn man looked to win possession from the feet of the Spaniard inside the Bees' penalty area.

Speaking after the game when asked about the injury to Dack, a visibly upset Mowbray said: "Not good.

"Obviously we need to get it scanned but the doctor thinks it's a bad one. It's his other leg, he's in a lot of discomfort. The players are trying to comfort him but let's wait and see. I think we have to wait for the scan results."

It seems as though Dack himself is concerned about the similarity of this injury to the one suffered 15 months ago, with Mowbray going on to reveal: "Bradley thinks it's exactly the same as the first one. He heard it pop, he felt it was exactly the same as what he did against Wigan (when he suffered that last injury)"

Discussing the blow suffered by Dack and the club with this news, Mowbray added: “You live through it with them, the sacrifice they give every day, the work they do.

“When everyone is having a rub or watching video clips he’s there doing his weights, and recent months running around a pitch to get fit, what you have to do.

“The mental side of thinking he’s got another year potentially of all that hard work again, when you start to put it into context about doing it again, he’s in a bit of pain, he’s got gas and air, he’s not himself.

“He’s trying to smile and say he’ll get through it so what can you do other than tell him he’s part of the family."

Indeed, Mowbray was clear that Dack will have the full backing of the club as he begins his next recovery, with the Rovers boss adding: “This club need to look after him, the supporters need to be there for him, his team-mates need to be there for him, and give him every support we can.

“The sadness it that he’s such a bright, bubbly lad, larger than life kid, who dreams of playing in the Premier League, of scoring goals and getting wrapped up in football matches and he just loves playing footy like the kid in the playground.

"To see that taken away from him for a second is really heartbreaking."

Prior to his injury, Dack had scored three goals in 16 league appearances for Rovers, having made his first appearances of the season after that injury on Boxing Day.

Following the defeat to Brentford, Blackburn now sit 14th in the Premier League table.12 points clear of the relegation zone.

The Verdict

It goes without saying that this is an absolutely huge blow both for Dack and Blackburn.

Most players are incredibly unlucky to suffer one injury such as this in their careers, so to suffer it twice in as many seasons must surely be, as Mowbray says, heartbreaking for Dack.

Indeed, you can't help but feel a great deal of sympathy for him, given the huge amount of work he had done to get himself back to the point where he was ready to feature for Rovers again this season, with the prospect of having to do that again surely a daunting one.

Given that Dack was also starting to look back to his back in recent weeks, this is also going to be a huge loss from Rovers from a footballing perspective, although getting the player back fit will obviously be the priority here.