GARY Bowyer has challenged his young Blackburn Rovers side to keep improving as they look for a third straight win this weekend.

Only two players who started the 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday were older than 26, with Alex Baptiste 28 and Lee Williamson 32 the most senior players.

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The starting XI had an average age of just 24.4, with only Wolves of the other 23 Championship sides starting with a younger team at the weekend.

But the inexperience did not cost them as they mounted an 11-minute second half comeback to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 win at the City Ground.

Bowyer said he had challenged his young bucks to end Forest’s unbeaten home record, and they responded with a resurgent second half display, and the manager believes that can only aid their future development.

“It’s important that we keep learning, keep getting better,” he said.

“Especially the younger ones, and to come and do that is great for their development and the next stage on for them.

“They’re an honest bunch, they work every so hard, they stick together. It’s a work in progress, there is another 32 games to go, there’s a lot of football still to be played.

“We’re not going to get carried away but this should give them a massive shot of confidence and belief in their ability, because they’re a young group and they’re learning all the time.”

The average age of the other 23 squads in the Championship this season is 25.4, while Forest’s starting XI on Saturday averaged 26.6, over two years a man older than their Rovers counterparts.

One of the stars of the show in the East Midlands was 23-year-old Tom Cairney, who caused Forest’s full-backs plenty of problems with his fellow wide man and 23-year-old, Ben Marshall.

Cariney backed his manager’s view that the performance could only benefit the youngsters, and believes it could be the catalyst for a charge into the play-off places.

“I don’t see why not,” he said.

“We’ve got a young squad and we’re gaining confidence from games like that, but hopefully from now we can put a run together because we’ve put in performances like that this season but we haven’t really got the points we deserve, so hopefully this is a turning point.

“The manager said after that this can only hold you in good stead for the future, playing in front of 27,000 and not being overawed by the situation and playing how we’ve played it can only be good for the future and maybe getting in the play-offs at the end of the season.”

Rovers had scored only five in the six Championship fixtures before travelling to the City Ground, despite racking up 115 shots in those matches.

They continued to let fly at goal on Saturday, having 15 attempts at Karl Darlow’s goal, and this time they were rewarded with three goals.

“If you’ve watched us this season we’ve put performances in like that,” said Bowyer, “Watford at home, Huddersfield at home, we’ve shown that we can create chances and we’ve got some ability in the dressing room and belief.

“We’ve been saying that (we have the ability to create chances and score goals). We’ve been averaging out at 20 chances a game over the last six games, we’ve got a lot of work to do still and a lot of improvement to keep going and keep learning and getting better but there is a belief in their ability.”