IF Blackburn Rovers boss Gary Bowyer is feeling the pressure then he was doing a good job of concealing it yesterday.

Speaking at his first press conference since a report claimed he had become the first managerial casualty of the season, Bowyer certainly showed no signs of strain.

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The report, as is now well documented, was labelled ‘untrue and without foundation’ by Rovers.

But what it has served to do is up the ante going into tonight’s derby at home to Bolton Wanderers.

It was already shaping up to be a crunch clash.

The rivals sit side by side in the bottom three after failing to win any of their first four games of the Championship campaign.

Bowyer, understandably, shied away from labelling the Sky-live encounter a ‘must win’.

But, after the longest winless run of his Ewood Park reign, he admits results are ultimately the be all and end all.

“Is it a must win? That’s no difference to going into any game,” said a relaxed Bowyer.

“If we’re right on Friday night and we get that win, it’ll be about the next game and then the next game after that.

“That’s what you know when you first take the job two years ago. You’ve just got to win football matches, it’s as simple as that.”

Bowyer was on his way back from Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion when the report emerged that he had been sacked.

But it was not until the plane carrying the Rovers players, staff and officials landed back in Manchester that he became aware of it.

“It came as a complete shock,” said Bowyer.

“We were fortunate enough to have flown so when we landed at Manchester Airport the lads put their phones on and their phones got quite lively, as you can imagine.

“I hadn’t put mine on so I thought they were planning a good night out! I then switched mine on, and it was entertaining.

“But there’s always a positive and I learned more about Twitter last weekend. My daughter told me I was trending, so I know what trending means now.”

Bowyer was swiftly contacted by members of his family and, asked if he was disappointed he had to find out that way, he said: “No, it’s just part and parcel of it.

“I’ve been in football all my life, because of my dad’s involvement in the game, and you just get used to it.

“We move and just focus on the Bolton game now.”

And Bowyer, son of two-time European Cup winner Ian, added: “Bolton are looking for their first win as well and, like us, they’ve been creating chances without getting the results.

“It should be a good, open attacking game. It’s a Friday night, it’s on the TV, it’s a local derby – it couldn’t be a better game for us.”

Bowyer, whose side have yet to keep their first clean sheet or go ahead in a game this season, added: “Our aim is to get our noses in front and get that first goal and then get our first clean sheet.

“It’s something the players have spoken about themselves this week and they are really focused on doing.”