DEFIANT Blackburn Rovers boss Gary Bowyer is adamant his side will be in contention for promotion come the end of the season.

Rovers are now 11 points behind the play-off places after going down to a painful 1-0 defeat at sixth-placed Watford on Saturday.

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But Bowyer insists their performance at Vicarage Road, where they peppered the Hornets goal before being hit by a late sucker punch, should fill them with belief that they can yet cut the daunting gap that now separates the teams.

He said: “The players are not feeling sorry for themselves.

“We played ever so well throughout the whole game and it just shows you the fine margins of being in the play-offs and not being in the play-offs.

“We aren’t far away and I fully expect us to be in and around it at the end of the season.”

Rovers welcome Rotherham United to Ewood Park tomorrow for the first of four home games – including Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Stoke City – in the space of two weeks.

“There is a long way to go and we’ve said to the players that they have to take an enormous amount of credit of confidence in the sense of how they performed at a team who are sat sixth place in the play-offs,” said Bowyer, who felt that Watford midfielder Juan Carlos Paredes should have been shown a second yellow.

“Are they better than us? Not at all.

“We’ve just got to stick together, keep the belief and keep the performances levels going, and have a right good go.”

Bowyer was disappointed by the nature of the Hornets’ winner which Odion Ighalo hooked home after a corner that was not cleared.

But Rovers midfielder Corry Evans confirmed the players had been spared a dressing down in the dressing room.

Evans said: “He said ‘at times this season when we’ve got beat I’ve had a pop at you but I can’t really have a go at you today because I thought you were very good’.

“The lads are all down and it’s just really frustrating that we couldn’t continue an unbeaten run after starting off with a win over Fulham.

“But this is a big month for us and we’ve just got to dust ourselves down and take confidence from the performance going into Tuesday’s game against Rotherham.”

Centre-back Shane Duffy did not travel to the match because of a family bereavement.

That meant Bowyer’s only other absentee was injured midfielder David Dunn.

And that should allow him to sanction loan moves out of the club for two of the younger members of his squad.

Burton Albion boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has already made it clear he wants to extend Darragh Lenihan’s stint at the League Two outfit.

And League One side Barnsley are keen to take John O’Sullivan on loan after seeing their £250,000 bid to sign the midfielder on a permanent deal rejected by Rovers.