Opinion: As contract uncertainty continues, out-on-loan player’s performances are a welcome sight for Blackburn Rovers

They may not have played, and the one Championship game that was on had next to no implications on the promotion battle they are embroiled in, but those of a Blackburn Rovers persuasion will no doubt have very much enjoyed one thing they saw on Tuesday night.

Around an hour into Portsmouth’s League One clash with Oxford at Fratton Park, Hayden Carter picked up possession of the ball some 35 yards from goal.

The centre back then took a couple of steps forward, and then unleashed an unstoppable strike into the top corner of Oxford ‘keeper Jack Stevens’ net.

For Portsmouth, that goal proved to be the winner in a 3-2 victory over a top six side that keeps Pompey’s own hopes of reaching the League One play-offs this season, very much alive.

From a Blackburn perspective, moments such as that could be just as significant, when it comes to looking ahead to the 2022/23 campaign.

Last season, Carter excelled in League One during a loan spell with Burton Albion during the second half of that campaign, where he helped the Brewers perform something of a great escape from relegation.

But returning to Ewood Park last summer, the options ahead of Carter in the pecking order meant that the 22-year-old managed just a handful of appearances during the first half of the current season.

That led to a loan move back to League One with Portsmouth during the January transfer window, where he now excelling to help Danny Cowley’s side mount a late push towards the play-off places, not dissimilar to the resurgence he helped Burton produce during his spell at the Pirelli Stadium last year.

For those watching on at Blackburn, that will undoubtedly be a relief, because when Carter returns to Ewood Park this summer, the situation looks set to be