The jeopardy, dread and nailbiting tension of the conclusion of last season felt a lifetime ago as Rovers put smiles on faces to start their latest campaign with a deserved three points.

Having gone 11 years without an opening day victory, Rovers have now reeled off four successive opening game wins, with this the most comprehensive of the lot.

Four goals, three points, two debutants on the scoresheet, and one huge ovation for Sam Szmodics was the story of the piece as Rovers dispatched a Rams side currently looking well short of Championship quality.

Mukhtar Gueye was the only one of the summer signings to start, but there was more than enough time for Andi Weimann and Yuki Ohashi to make their mark with goals either side of one for the man who wasn’t expected to still be here, but showed just why he is so coveted.

Rovers looked a more fluid side going forward as space opened up late in the second half with John Eustace’s trio of attacking changes making instant impacts off the bench, though the departure of Gueye just after the hour saw them look increasingly frail at defensive set pieces, the route from which the visitors scored twice, and somehow denied a third.

Positives were plentiful across the pitch however, Lewis Travis played like a man with a point to prove, chest puffed out, armband aboard, as he powered through midfield with the ball-carrying, running power of Joe Rothwell, with the added Travis snarl.

He played on the edge, and showed how when you focus in on what he’s good at, rather than searching for a perceived weaknesses, there is an excellent midfielder ready to burst free.

A big season is predicted from Hayden Carter, while Dom Hyam made some important interventions, looking more the player from his debut season than his second.

Rovers’ better work came down the flanks, three of the four goals coming via crosses or cut-backs, including the rarity of a headed goal from open play.

While a Szmodics goal felt inevitable, the most pleasing aspect was the composed finish of Ohashi. Who knows how important that goal will be in his settling in period.

From a personal, and Rovers, perspective, Tyrhys Dolan will need a big season, and he kicked off his season in the best possible way, doing so from his preferred central role (a potential Szmodics replacement, perhaps?)

Tougher tests will certainly lie ahead, but a pleasing start all the same.

Most of all, it was nice to be back talking, and enjoying, football once again after another summer which posed many more questions, than answers.

The 90 minutes, and subsequent celebrations, pushed all the wider context issues to the side.

However, coming into the season, I will admit to being unable to look beyond the parallels to the summer of 2016/17.

My concern was that while funds were being banked, the squad was being downgraded, something that will eventually catch up on you.

Rovers went into that summer on the back of 15 points from their final 13 games, as they did this time around (finishing two points worse off over the course of 46 games).

Then, Grant Hanley and Shane Duffy departed for a combined c.£10m, having banked similar the previous summer from selling Rudy Gestede and Tom Cairney.

The response was to buy 13 players, free transfers and loans aside from the £250,000 on Derrick Williams, and we all know what happened next.

Rovers have already lost one first-team player in Sam Gallagher, with continued uncertainty of another Sam, this on the back of selling Adam Wharton in January and losing star performers Thomas Kaminski and Ben Brereton the previous summer.

Kaminski’s replacement has already been sold, two of last season’s attacking additions moved on, leaving Rovers with a repair job to do this time around, one I still feel is far from over.

The goalkeeping situation needs to be addressed, so far failing to deliver the experienced competition and challenger to Aynsley Pears that Eustace has wanted all summer, while Joe Rankin-Costello’s move further forward has left the full-back positions looking particularly light.

It was always going to be an unenviable task on a football level, before you even get onto the topic of finances, but incredibly early indications are that Rovers may well have spent the money as wisely as they could.

The additions of McFadzean, Batth and Weimann would appear to have been pushed for by Eustace, moves for Ohashi and Gueye more a club call, as the head coach himself was keen to point out.

That dynamic between head coach and recruitment team/club hierarchy will be watched with interest.

Another longer-term concern is that many of Rovers’ recent departures of key personnel (Nyambe, Lenihan, Rothwell, Brereton, Gallagher) for either frees or reduced fees have come because of their contractual situations. Were it not for Adam Wharton’s affiliation with, and affection for, Rovers then his situation could have been very different. And the contract issues could well be creeping up on Rovers once again.

Three of the new recruits have signed deals until the end of the season, joining Hyam*, Dolan, Hedges*, Markanday*, Sigurdsson, Gilsenan* as out of contract in 2025 (*known options).

In stark contrast to the seven in 2023, no first-team player has signed a contract extension this calendar year, in which time there has been a change in football operations personnel. Rovers may well be taking a more ‘here and now’ approach than the rhetoric of the more recent projects, but decisions of the present will certainly have implications on the future.

As for what lies ahead, who knows, and that’s the beauty of it.

An open division it looks set to be, Rovers with a competitive enough starting XI and few in reserve, but still several players short of looking a squad able to push into the top half.

An opening month which concludes with an East Lancashire derby, is preceded by a date in court for the owners and the closing of the transfer window. These next three weeks may not offer the jeopardy free feeling that the opening night did.

But it felt good to be back.