TONY Mowbray said he takes ‘no solace’ from the fact Rovers would ordinarily be all but assured of promotion given their tally of 86 points.

Bolton claimed second place in League One with that number last term, while Rovers are ahead of where last year’s champions Sheffield United were at this stage of the season.

Shrewsbury’s 0-0 draw with Bradford on Thursday means Mowbray’s men head to Bristol Rovers this afternoon four points clear in second, with 11 more points needed to ensure they will be playing Championship football next season.

Wigan head the table on goal difference having played a game fewer than Rovers and all three of the leading trio look set to eclipse the 90 points mark this term while they could set a record for the number of points achieved by the top three sides in the third tier.

But Mowbray admitted: “It’s no solace to me. I look at the other leagues and I think there is only Wolverhampton Wanderers (92) who have accrued as many points as we have.

“Yet it’s not a frustration, it’s reality. Huge credit to Wigan Athletic and Shrewsbury Town for accruing as many points as they have.

“In any other year with this many points and five games to go you’d be pretty confident of achieving our aim but we have to still focus on every match and try and get three points and see where it takes us in the end.”

Rovers lost four of their opening 11 matches but have since claimed 67 points from a possible 93 since, losing just once, to climb to second.

And after eight wins in their last 10 matches, Mowbray believes his players deserve a great deal of credit for their incredible run, but he knows their work is far from done.

He added: “Four defeats in our first 11 games, if I’m looking for reasons it was a pretty new team, we signed 12 players.

“It was a new league, with new challenges and new grounds to go to, but the positive for me is that we have reacted well to the environments in which they have been asked to go and play.

“After that initial spell, if you think early on there is a lot of disruption with games, there was the three international breaks so at one point we were 12 points behind both Wigan and Shrewsbury.

“To put ourselves in the position we have they deserve huge credit for their concentration, desire, focus, to try and get the job done for this club and the supporters.

“I realise we live in a world where if we don’t get this job finished there will be a huge negative vibe around it, disappointment can grow very quickly, but at this moment we’re focussing on trying to win our last five games without setting them any goals.

“Let’s win as many as can, accrue as many points, because we can’t affect Wigan or Shrewsbury.”

Mowbray admits a guarantee of promotion via the play-offs would be the best way possible to win promotion.

But given the lottery of that scenario, he said: “I have been promoted a few times in the play-offs and if you’re going to get promoted then it’s the best way to do it if you could guarantee it.

“You have a day out at Wembley with 40,000 of your own fans, it’s like winning a cup final and promotion all in one day, so that’s the best way to do it on a one-off occasion at Wembley.

“Yet I’d rather someone else do that this year and we can sit and watch it on the telly.”