David Raya was pleased to put a tough couple of weeks behind him by pulling on the Rovers goalkeeping shirt in the 1-1 draw with Rotherham United.

Raya postponed nose reconstruction surgery until the summer after picking up a severe facial injury in the draw at West Brom on October 27.

Only two weeks on he was back between the sticks for Rovers after being given the all clear to play with a protective mask which he will need to wear for the next six weeks.

Raya spent time in hospital after the collision with Jay Rodriguez and travelled back to Spain to spend time with his family.

Explaining the process of coming back in to the fold, the 23-year-old said: “It’s been a tough last couple of weeks. It’s a horrible injury but I’m back now.

“I felt okay and my nose is getting better.

“I need to train and play with a mask for the next six weeks.

“I came back from home on Tuesday, trained on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, spoke to the gaffer and he left things up to me with regards playing.

“It shows he has faith in me and the team do as well.

“If I wasn’t feeling right then I wouldn’t have played because if not I wouldn’t have done any favours to the team. But I felt I could and that’s why the gaffer left it up to me.”

Raya missed just a second game since April 2017 as Jayson Leutwiler deputised in the 1-0 win over QPR on November 3.

Rovers were chasing a third successive home win when they hosted the Millers, but fell behind to a Michael Smith header in the 74th minute despite dominating for long periods.

They got a deserved equaliser through Bradley Dack, with Raya feeling they did enough to warrant taking all three points.

He added: “I think we deserved more and were the better team. In the second half we were on top of them, didn’t let them play their game and should have got all three points.

“It’s frustrating because we had a lot of chances, but it was one of those days where the ball doesn’t want to go in.

“They got the goal from one of their strengths, crosses, but at the end of the day we got back to get the draw and if you can’t get the win then you make sure you don’t lose it.”

Rovers head in to the international break sitting ninth in the table with 17 games of the season gone.

It has been a solid start to life back in the Championship for Rovers, who despite feeling they may have drawn a few too many matches, have been beaten on just three occasions.

And Raya says the dressing room are satisfied with how things are going before games at Preston and Wigan on the return to action.

He said: “The aim was to start well at the start of the season and we want to make it a really good campaign by continuing to play well and earn good results.”