GARY Bowyer believes Blackburn Rovers will reap the benefits of having a fully-fit captain Grant Hanley.

Hanley rescued a point for Rovers on Tuesday night when he scored his first goal of the season to snatch a 1-1 home draw with Cardiff City.

But even before his dramatic 88th-minute equaliser the Scotland international was one of the leading contenders for the man-of-the-match award.

Bowyer said afterwards that his skipper fully deserved to land the award.

But, speaking ahead of today’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion, the Rovers boss has expressed his pleasure at the form Hanley has shown since the start of the campaign.

The 23-year-old missed the final two months of last season after he succumbed to the injuries that had been plaguing him.

Hanley returned to action in May when he made a cameo for Rovers’ Under-21 team.

But he was left out of the Scotland squad for their big Euro 2016 qualifier against Republic of Ireland.

However Bowyer reckons that has done Academy graduate Hanley, who is set to make his 158th appearance for the club at the Amex this afternoon, the power of good.

He said: “A lot of the time last season Grant was playing with the injury that eventually saw him out.

“But he never shied away from responsibility or anything like that.

“It’s amazing that he’s still only 23 and the number of league game he’s got under his belt.

“He’s really benefited from getting himself 100 per cent. Throughout the summer he’s worked really hard.

“He didn’t go away with Scotland and we’re reaping the benefits of that.

“We’re working with him to improve areas of his game, which he knows he has to improve, and I think you’ve seen the benefits of that in his play in our first three games.

“The lad’s only going to get better because he wants to get better.”

Rovers could hand a debut to Tom Lawrence today after the 21-year-old forward yesterday completed his loan move from Leicester City.

Lawrence becomes Bowyer’s seventh signing of the summer.

And returning Rovers midfielder Corry Evans said: “I think the manager has done a great job in strengthening the squad with the limited resources that we’ve had.

“The players we’ve brought in have made us stronger and there’s now a lot of competition for places throughout the squad.

“I think we saw that on Tuesday night. We made a few changes to the team and I thought the lads played very well in the second half and they were unlucky not to win. It bodes well for the future.”

Rovers are still searching for their first win of the season after drawing two and losing one of their first three league games.

And Evans, who is fit again after a thigh injury, said: “Every team is eager to get that first win and hopefully we can get it at Brighton on Saturday and then go on a little run and try and push our way up the table.”