ROVERS boss Tony Mowbray says he would rather face the pressure of a promotion push than that of a relegation battle as he prepares to face League One leaders Shrewsbury Town tomorrow.

Mowbray is seven months in to his job at Ewood Park and is hoping to lead the club to an immediate return to the Championship this season.

Rovers were installed as favourites to lift the League One title in the summer have started with four wins and three defeats.

“As a manager you would rather have that pressure,” Mowbray said of this season’s expectations compared with those of the last campaign.

“I have managed at Glasgow Celtic where you have to win every game, a draw is a nightmare result.

“Yet I have also managed at West Bromwich Albion where we won our first Championship in 88 years on the back of losing in a play-off final to Derby.

“We made some changes in that summer and then won the league, so there’s pressure.

“Middlesbrough there was pressure because they had spent a lot of money before I got there and there was an expectation to get out of that league.

“I have managed under pressure and expectation before.”

The Rovers boss also believes recruitment plays a key part to the success of any team.

Fourteen players left Ewood Park following relegation, while 13 were brought in, and Mowbray admits rebuilding a squad is no easy feat.

“While we did well last year with our points per games, which would have put us in the top half, that does not mean that we are going to walk through League One,” he added.

“The reality is that we lost 14 players from that group and I felt as though as I had to try and rebuild a squad which is not easy to do.

“The players we signed, I picked them really from players that I had managed before or played well against my teams in the past.

“We will get to the point somewhere down the line at this club where the recruitment of players will be more structured, more homework done on every player to make sure we get every one right if we can.

“It is difficult to get every one right of course, but to give ourselves the best chance they have to fit the right criteria of what we want.

“Recruitment, while it’s probably the most important part of any club, it’s also the most difficult.

“Some teams spend hundreds of millions on players but still don’t get it right.

“After every result you get judged. If you get beat you’re not very good, if you win you’re great, when the reality is somewhere in between.”