THE spirit remains strong in the Blackburn Rovers squad, insists Gary Bowyer, despite their winless start to the season.

Rovers boss Bowyer, whose side went down 1-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, said: “You come in after a defeat and you’re always conscious about what the mood would be like but the players themselves understand how well they’ve done in the last two games in terms of creating chances.

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“They’re not stupid. They’re an honest bunch and the players have been good this week in saying, ‘we should have taken our chances’.

“They stick together and keep working hard. It’s only us who can change it for us and we’re not going to be waiting on anybody else.”

Rovers welcome Bolton Wanderers to Ewood Park tonight on the back of their first free midweek of the campaign.

And Bowyer said: “We’ve able to get out on the grass and do some work and, with the fact that we’ve got so many new players coming into the team, it’s given us the chance to get to know individuals better.

“The players are building up relationships and there have been some promising signs on the training pitch this week. Hopefully we can take it into the game on Friday night.”