Rovers boss Tony Mowbray says he has enjoyed the balance of personalities of his backroom staff over the course of the season.

Mowbray was reunited with his long-term assistant Mark Venus last summer, with the pair having previously worked together at West Brom, Celtic, Middlesbrough and Coventry City.

Prior to that, Mowbray had worked alongside David Lowe and David Dunn who had been promoted from roles within the club’s Academy to assist the new manager when he replaced Owen Coyle in February 2017.

Dunn returned to working alongside Damien Johnson in the Under-23s this season, but Lowe stayed on as first-team coach with Venus appointed as No.2 last June.

Venus is a confidant of Mowbray, as well as a regular sight on the touchline, while Lowe is an enthusiastic figure who is heavily involved in the training sessions.

Believing the duo to be unsung heroes, Mowbray, said: “My immediate coaching staff, with Mark Venus as my assistant manager who has some private and personal family issues that he is trying to deal with as well as help us.

“He lives in Dedham (Essex) which is a four hour drive away and he’s been there and back quite a lot over these last few months.

“Veno has always been a big support to me.

“David Lowe, who along with Dunny, joined me last season when I first came in. I thought the balance of Lowey along with Veno and knowing what his personality is, you have to balance your staff out and I thought that worked well.

“David Lowe, I have enjoyed working with immensely.”

Rovers had to make the changes to their backroom staff following the sacking of Coyle last February, as both Sandy Stewart and Phil Hughes, his assistant manager and goalkeeping coach respectively, also moved on.

Ben Benson was another to be promoted from the Academy under Mowbray to assist the first-team goalkeepers and saw his progress rewarded with a new long-term deal in July, after initially joining from Carlisle United in 2015.

Mowbray has been full of praise for the way Benson has worked with 22-year-old David Raya, who was named in the League One team of the year after an excellent season between the sticks.

Mowbray added: “Ben Benson is a very young goalkeeping coach, yet very thorough and organised.

“He’s on a ladder to hopefully a wonderful career and he’s worked very well with a relative young goalkeeper in the sticks in David Raya.”

Throughout the course of the season the Ewood chief has also praised the work of Johnson and Dunn who guided the Under-23s to the Premier League 2 Division Two title.

Mowbray admits his manager’s door ‘is always open’ to the pair, adding: “I like the environment they are in at the moment, I see them working extraordinarily hard for each other and driving each added, competing with each other to get better every day.”