Tony Mowbray says he will take plenty from tonight’s friendly with Liverpool - but admits the visitors' Premier League quality told in the end.

Second half strikes from Lazar Markovic and Daniel Sturridge proved the difference in the friendly at Ewood Park which was played out in front of more than 14,500 fans.

Rovers held their own for the opening hour, holding the Reds at 0-0 when Mowbray made a raft of substitutions.

And asked for a summary of the game, Mowbray said: “I think we take a lot out of tonight. I thought we worked extremely hard and we got out of the game what we wanted.

“We were out of possession for long spells, worked really hard but first half in particular we managed to ask some questions of them as well.

“That became more difficult after the changes but it was a good run out for us.

“It was good for the players to feel the quality of the Premier League players if that is the aspirations of where we want to be and what they want to achieve as footballers.

“There’s plenty to be happy with but I think you could feel their extra quality at times but we worked really hard and I thought there were a lot of positives.”

Dominic Samuel drew a save from Loris Karius while Charlie Mulgrew curled a free-kick just wide of the post as Rovers enjoyed a good spell just after the half hour mark.

They struggled for opportunities after the break, as the introductions of Nabi Keita and Daniel Sturridge swung the game in favour of Jurgen Klopp’s side.

“I think it was good first-half. We could pick a pass in that first-half, we had some technically good players on the pitch and you could get away from the press,” Mowbray said.

“We managed to get through it a few times and threaten them but at the end of the day they have some world class players on the pitch in the second half so we have to accept that it was going to be a tough night for us.

“It was a step up for them, they’re trying to build their pre-season and they now go off to America and play some Champions League teams.

“It was the next little step for them and I thought for 60 minutes we gave them a decent game. After that, it became more difficult.”

It was Rovers’ first home pre-season game in two years, and the level of opposition they have faced this summer is much improved than 12 months earlier.

Premier League side Everton are due at Ewood next week, with games against Lincoln on Sunday and Accrington Stanley next Sunday rounding off the close season games.

“It’s why we took these games against Liverpool and Everton,” Mowbray said of the increased challenge.

“As we will this season we will come up against good teams who know what they’re doing with the ball and how they try and get through you.

“There’s not many teams like that in League One so we have to get used to a different standard.

“As we found last season we got caught a bit cold playing League Two and non-league teams.

“This year it was important we played teams that are better than us so the team got used to playing in a shape with good organisation and work hard out of possession.”