THE FA Cup and Swansea City hold good memories for fit-again Blackburn Rovers midfielder Jason Lowe.

It was in the famous competition that the then 19-year-old achieved his long-held ambition of making his Rovers senior debut.

And it was a Yakubu-inspired victory over Swansea, tomorrow’s visitors to Ewood Park, which provided a rare highlight of Steve Kean’s wretched reign.

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Lowe, who has seen it all since joining Rovers at the age of 12, refers to those days as ‘dark times’.

The 23-year-old insists the club, under the control of Gary Bowyer, has progressed massively since then.

But he admits Rovers need a victory to get their season back on track after a dip in form that has seen them slip eight points behind the Championship play-off places.

And Lowe believes tomorrow’s fourth-round tie with their former Premier League rivals offers the perfect opportunity to do that.

He said: “We’ve spoken a lot about the spirit, character and desire of this team in the past and that’s not changed.

“I think every team in every league will have a blip at some point and you just need to get that win as soon as possible to stop it.

“The progress that has been made over the past couple of years has been remarkable when you look back. They were dark times and I know that because I was there.

“Where we are at the minute we just need that win, not just for ourselves but for the whole club to put the confidence back in there.

“You’ve just got to take it one game at time, there’s no saying if we do go and get that win against Swansea then we’ll go unbeaten until the end of the season.

“But the FA Cup is great opportunity to breed a bit of confidence.

“Swansea are a Premier League team and the expectation on us to win is probably a bit lower, but we feel we can go and win.”

Lowe came through last Saturday’s 1-1 league draw at Wigan unscathed after sitting out four matches with a foot injury.

It was his 132nd appearance for the club.

His first came back in January 2011 when a 77th-minute strike from fellow Academy graduate Junior Hoilett settled Rovers’ FA Cup third-round clash at home to QPR.

“There have been a few games and scenarios come and gone since then,” said Lowe, who was speaking at a Kick it Out event at his old school in Leigh, St Thomas CE Primary School.

“It was a good memory and hopefully there are a few more of them to come yet.”

Lowe’s best memory of Swansea came during their last visit to Ewood.

That December 2011 afternoon, amid fan protests against the deeply unpopular Kean, the rampant Yakubu produced a stunning solo performance, scoring all four goals in a 4-2 Rovers success.

Lowe said: “It was a difficult game but we played well and the Yak was on fire.

“When he was on fire he tended to score more often than not, so that was a good day.”