TONY Mowbray believes there are improvements to make despite his Rovers side sitting top of the table.

Rovers visit Walsall tomorrow one point clear at the summit having won 12 of their last 18 league fixtures. Promotion is in Rovers’ hands after a midweek draw for second place Shrewsbury but the Ewood boss still believes his side can hit new heights in the closing 13 games.

“I think you hope for a consistency in performance, that’s why we have principles of play, what we do, where we attack and what’s expected,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“All of those things we break down and study what did we do well and what didn’t we do well.”

Seven of Rovers’ remaining 13 games come away from home starting with an away-day double header at Walsall tomorrow and AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Despite sitting top of the pile, Mowbray knows there is room for improvement.

He added: “The players know that, they know we have to get better, we have to keep the intensity levels really high.

“We have to improve as a team who can play through a press and pick the right pass and that’s something we have to work on and continually get better.

“The test if we can get out of this league is every week in the next league up where everyone is a bit stronger, bit faster and better with the ball and we have to keep trying to improve to go in to that environment if that’s what we are to achieve.”

Mowbray, who marked a year in charge of Rovers yesterday, said his players are aware of the challenges they will face in the remaining weeks of the season having been made to work hard to see off struggling Bury on Monday night.

The Rovers boss added: “In games like Bury, what becomes most important is the points but there were things in the first half that didn’t happen that were really frustrating because we had done work on.

“I would have to say that on Sunday in training we looked like Real Madrid in the way we moved the ball around but Bury were ready, had plans and denied us a lot of space.

“We couldn’t get through the spaces we were trying to attack and credit to them how organised they were trying to stop us doing it.

“But Plan B was more effective, we kept a clean sheet which was important and don’t overly analyse the performance, particularly the first 60 minutes, and move on to the next game.

“At this moment we’re doing okay, 13 games to define our season and accrue enough points to finish in the top two.”