Tony Mowbray is staying level-headed in Rovers’ pursuit of promotion but knows the chance to open up an eight-point advantage over rivals Shrewsbury would represent a terrific turnaround in fortunes.

Rovers trailed the Shrews by as many as 12 points early in the campaign, but a run of one defeat in 31 leaves Mowbray’s men in the box seat to win promotion to the Championship.

Victory over Peterborough at Ewood Park tonight would further strengthen their position and raise the prospect of securing a place in the Championship next weekend.

A win over Peterborough would put Mowbray’s men eight points ahead of Paul Hurst’s men, who lost to Charlton on Tuesday, and move them level with leaders Wigan.

But the Rovers boss cautioned: “Yet they both have a game on Saturday when we don’t. We can’t affect it. I sat and watched Brighton v Tottenham (on Tuesday), I wasn’t really interested in anything else because I can’t affect it, I just flick it on at the end.

“That’s the best way to deal with it otherwise you’ll lose your mind as all you’re doing is flicking and watching.

“Let’s focus on us on Thursday and try and get three points and see how the other teams react. We all play next Tuesday so let’s see how we go.

“The statistics are showing that we’re a difficult team to play against, we’ve got good quality and athleticism, some resilience about us, we have to keep going, keep believing in each other, working as hard as we have and the results will look after themselves.”

Rovers have lost the fewest games in League One (five), with four of those coming by October 14.

Mowbray added: “I was saying to the staff that if you take away the first 11 games then we have taken 17 points more than Shrewsbury because we found ourselves 12 behind.

“To be five in front of them it shows that over the last 31, it’s telling me they (the players) have shown the quality they have got.

“We can’t dismiss the first 11 games of the season, yet there was a turnaround of players, a new playing style so I take the confidence going in to the final four games that if it was a 31 game season then we have more points than Shrewsbury and Wigan.

“Yet here we are with four games to go, I take solace from the team knowing that the days we don’t play particularly well we still find a way not to lose a game.

“We can win games at our best because of our quality and we have to believe we can win our last four games because of the resilience and attitude this team shows.

“We’re hopeful that we can get over the line no matter what the other teams do.”