WILLEM Tomlinson has done his chances of starting this weekend’s league match with Charlton Athletic no harm, according to boss Tony Mowbray.

Tomlinson impressed as a substitute in the comeback win at Peterborough United last weekend and carried that form in to Wednesday’s FA Cup replay win at Crewe Alexandra in which he played the full 90 minutes.

That, along with a number of consistent displays for the Under-23s, means Tomlinson could make his first league start for Rovers should Corry Evans not return to action.

The Northern Ireland international, who Tomlinson replaced last weekend, remains a doubt having been forced off at the ABAX Stadium following stitches to a gash on his knee. He too had replaced Peter Whittingham who is set for three weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury.

And on Tomlinson’s chances of a start when Charlton arrive at Ewood Park tomorrow, Mowbray added: “We’re running a bit short on midfield players in wide and central areas.

“I would have to suggest have that if Corry is unavailable, which isn’t clear yet I would have to say, then Willem hasn’t done himself any harm.

“He was good, as were (Lewis) Travis and (Sam) Hart when they came on.

“It’s important that young players are given an opportunity but our aim and our goal is to win league matches.

“You have to be able to trust them and we need Willem at the moment.

“He’s done very well, he passes economically forward and does the job it says on the tin.

“I have always liked Tomlison, we have talked before about his situation and how he fell through the cracks. His fitness suffered as he was sat on the bench and not getting on and not playing the Under-23 games, didn’t do enough work but he has played almost every Under-23 game this season and looks fit.”

Meanwhile, Rovers will assess a couple of niggles ahead of this weekend’s game with Charlton, with Marcus Antonsson among those players that will be monitored ahead of kick-off.

Mowbray added: “There’s a few strains, a few that probably won’t train again and hopefully have them available for Saturday.

“The frost in the early part of the week meant we trained on an artificial surface and then playing on a pretty soggy surface (at Crewe) has caught a few muscles out in the players’ bodies, hopefully nothing too serious.

“I think training will be pretty low key and just try and make sure we don’t leave them undercooked for Saturday which is a pretty important one for us.

“It’s just about the intensity levels from going from doing nothing to coming out of the traps really fast.

“You need to build that up I think but they will get through 90 minutes I’m sure but there are a few tight muscles because of the different surfaces they have played on.

“From my 30 odd years in football I have learned it’s when you play on different types of surfaces can be problematic.”