ROVERS boss Gary Bowyer has challenged his side to embark on another unbeaten run, after seeing the right response in training to last weekend’s late defeat.

A nine-game unbeaten streak came to a cruel end with a last-minute winner for Sheffield Wednesday at Ewood Park last weekend.

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Bowyer’s side are aiming to take their frustrations out on Brentford, who are looking to bounce back themselves after having a five-game winning run ended at Huddersfield.

Both clubs have responded well to setbacks this season. Four out of Rovers’ five previous defeats in league and cup have been followed up with a win, while a goalless draw against Huddersfield sparked the recovery from a 2-0 defeat at Rotherham, their last defeat until last weekend.

Wins have followed six of Brentford’s previous seven losses, but back-to-back defeats in September mean Blackburn have the edge on such statistics, although Bowyer knows they will count for nothing come 3pm tomorrow.

In a battle between fifth and seventh, with Rovers looking to overhaul the in-form Londoners and push up into the play-offs, the manager says they simply have to want it more.

“We’ve got to bounce back,” he said. “We’ve got to have a reaction and that’s what we’ve spoken about this week. The players know that.

“To their credit, after every defeat they’ve had this season they’ve really bounced back and put a performance in, so we’ll be looking for them to repeat that,” he said, adding that he had been pleased with the work-rate and enthusiasm in training this week.

“They’ve been magnificent. They’ve really trained well and the standard of the performances in training has been top notch to be fair to them. They’ve not sulked.

“I think that’s a measure of the group we’ve got. They’ve not felt sorry for themselves, they’ve gone about trying to put it right.”

Part of the recovery process involved an inquest into last weekend’s disappointing result, with the players openly admitting they had been below par.

“It was very simple: Did we deserve to lose? Probably not. Did we deserve to win? Probably not.

“On reflection we try to stay level but certainly everybody agreed that the standard wasn’t good enough from us,” said Bowyer.

“They’re an honest bunch and you couldn’t fault their effort. It was just the quality that we all recognised needed to improve.

“It was a tough one. We were on an impressive run, but that’s over now. We’ve had to take our medicine this week and we’re looking at putting another run together.”

But Bowyer knows Brentford, still full of momentum from their promotion season, will not make that mission easy.

“I think they’ve done magnificently well,” said the Rovers boss. “They’ve come up and some people will say they’ve surprised the league but we’ve watched them on numerous occasions and they haven’t surprised us. It’s going to be a difficult game because the environment down there, it’s one of the old-fashioned grounds, so to speak, where the crowd is right on top of you. But it’s something that we’re looking forward to.”