DERRICK Williams could face a challenge to his starting spot when Rovers host Oldham Athletic this afternoon.

The 2016/17 player of the year has started 48 consecutive league games for Rovers, the last two of which have seen him line up in central defence.

An injury to captain Charlie Mulgrew meant Williams moved in to a central defensive role, partnering Paul Downing, allowing January signing Amari’i Bell to step in at left-back.

Bell, 23, joined from Fleetwood Town last month and has impressed in a Rovers shirt, with Mowbray having made the full-back one of his main transfer targets during the January transfer window.

His arrival was to add competition to Williams, but with a potential return for Mulgrew at Ewood Park, that could leave a straight shoot-out between Williams and Bell at left-back.

And Mowbray welcomes the selection headache.

He said: “I think Amari’i has shown in my game-time since he came in that he is a high quality footballer which is why we worked really hard behind the scenes to make him come to us.

“Ultimately he will get judged over a longer time than the two or three games that he’s played but that’s what you have to do in every position, you have to create competition.

“You have to have them pushing themselves every day to be the best footballer that they can be and then they have to deal with the frustration and the disappointment of the manager’s decision to either play them or leave them out. That happens everywhere you look.

“What’s good for me is that we have decisions to make over our selection each week now.”

Sam Hart was allowed to join Rochdale on loan having previously been the man most likely to challenge Williams’ place in the team after his summer move from Liverpool.

Mowbray had been keen to add more competition for places at the club, and with three new faces through the door before the transfer window closed last month, and with several senior players returning from injury, he has achieved his aim.

And Mowbray said the opposition could dictate who wins out at left back.

He added: “Tottenham have probably got two international right-backs, two international left-backs, and then the manager decides on any given day whether he goes with the more attacking one or the more defensive one.

“They have to deal with not getting picked.

“If you are going to a top team then you may want to put a more defensive set-up out there, other days when you are playing against a team that’s a bit more fragile then you play your attacking players, press right on them and go and smash them. That’s football.”