Blackburn Rovers Boosted by Ribeiro and Ohashi's Return for Swansea Match

Blackburn Rovers will travel to Swansea City with a stronger bench and a lighter mood. Yuri Ribeiro and Yuki Ohashi are back in the matchday squad, a timely lift as the Championship schedule begins to bite.

Both have been stuck in the treatment room with hamstring problems – Ribeiro for the past month, Ohashi for two. Now they are fit enough to rejoin the group and will be among the substitutes on Saturday.

“Yuri and Yuki are both going to travel and are both available for the bench, which is good news for us,” manager Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire.

It is not the only positive update. Kristi Montgomery, who missed last week’s win over Wrexham, has trained fully and is in contention to return.

“Kristi's trained fully so fingers crossed there's no reaction with that,” Mowbray said, wary of pushing too hard, too soon.

The mood changes when the conversation turns to Mathias Jorgensen. His own hamstring battle has taken a darker turn, a setback earlier this month ruling him out again and extending a stop-start spell that has tested both body and mind.

“He's not travelling. I think as well as dealing with the injury, we need to deal with the psychological side with him,” Mowbray admitted.

So the club has taken a different route. Jorgensen has been given a few days away, time to be with his family and absorb another cruel twist after working his way back towards full fitness.

“We've given him a few days to see his family and recover because it's been a pretty tough journey that he's had. Then to break down when he was on the cusp of getting back to full fitness is tough for him.

“Our thoughts are with him at the moment but hopefully it's only another three weeks or something like that and he'll be back on the grass again.”

Rovers head to South Wales with two key players back in the fold, another close to a return, and one important figure fighting to reset and go again. For a long Championship campaign, how they manage those stories could matter as much as anything that happens over 90 minutes at Swansea.