TONY Mowbray is confident his side can continue the improvement in their league form when they return to action following the international break.

And the Rovers boss wants to quickly move on from a disappointing display in the Checkatrade Trophy in which an experimental side was beaten 1-0 by Bury at Ewood Park on Tuesday.

Rovers collected 13 points from a possible 18 in September, leading to Mowbray being nominated for the manager of the month award. 

It is also 19 points from a possible 24 since starting the season with back-to-back defeats, and Mowbray says the focus is on continuing that run at Oldham on October 14.

“If we are going to break the season down, I don’t think the Checkatrade Trophy is a main concern for us,” Mowbray said.

“Yet you are still disappointed when the team’s performance levels aren’t what are expected.

“It’s frustrating to see a performance from a team of mine like that.

“Ultimately all that matters is that you’re ready for Oldham a week on Saturday.

“We will have a full week of preparation leading up to Oldham and let’s hope we find a performance that can get us three points which is all that matters.”

Despite it being down on his priority list, Mowbray was less than impressed with his side’s performance, describing it as ‘poor’ and ‘insipid’.

But he added: “We will leave that performance behind us.  We know the players that weren’t involved who would have hugely improved that performance.

“It’s best putting in the annals of history and moving on to training and preparing for Oldham in 10 days’ time.”

Rovers are in the middle of a two week break from league action with their scheduled trip to Blackpool this weekend having been re-arranged due to international call-ups.

They moved in to the top six for the first time this season with a win over Gillingham, but when they return to action at Oldham in nine days’ time, they will be two games behind many of their rivals.

But Mowbray isn’t concerned by that and is focussed on targeting three points in every game.

 “We’re doing all right.  In the league in recent weeks has been reasonably successful, we have won plenty of games, so don’t worry about the two games that we drop behind some teams,” he said.

“Those games will come along and we have to find performances when they do and they become something like a free hit because not many teams are playing on the same evening.

“It’s a long, long season, we just have to accumulate points which is what we’re trying to do and we can only get points from the games that are in front of us.

“Not playing this weekend, that’s okay because we’ll play at some stage down the line.”

Meanwhile, Rovers midfielder Corry Evans will be looking to be involved for Northern Ireland in their World Cup qualifier against world champions Germany at Windsor Park tonight (7.45pm).

Evans has started all but two of Rovers’ league games this season, and after playing the full 90 minutes in the qualifying win over Czech Republic last month, will be hoping to win his 42nd cap.

Charlie Mulgrew is expected to start for Scotland this evening (7.45pm) as they host Slovakia in a crucial World Cup qualifier.

Gordon Strachan’s side are in need of a victory to keep alive their hosts of earning a play-off spot by finishing as runners-up in Group F.