MAKE or break, last chance saloon, now or never.

Whichever way you look at it, it promises to be a huge Easter period for Blackburn Rovers and their hopes of avoiding the drop.

Unthinkable, but a reality they must face up to, was how head coach Tony Mowbray described relegation earlier this month, and with each passing, winless game, the more real it becomes.

It will have been difficult last Saturday night, or even in the following days, to draw any positives from a below-par showing against Barnsley, made worse given the position that Rovers find themselves in.

Results elsewhere compounded a truly awful afternoon, while the potential absence of five first-team regulars for the trip to Nottingham Forest would make it easy for Rovers to feel sorry for themselves.

But the players, management and fans alike must draw a line under what has gone before.

Now is not a time for inquests on where things have gone wrong, what mistakes have been made, and as hard as it may be, not a time to think of the bigger picture.

The here and now is critical. It is an Easter double-header against fellow relegation rivals Nottingham Forest and Bristol City.

Five games to go and a four point deficit to overturn represents a tall order for Rovers, but while it may be difficult to comprehend given the performance last weekend, it could easily turn into three games to go and a two point cushion.

The only place in which Rovers’ fate will be decided will be on the pitch, and is there in which they must summon the necessary spirit to show the fans that they care just as much about the club’s plight as those in the stands and others watching on from afar.

In the week that the club were named the Championship’s family club of the year by the EFL, it shouldn’t be lost just how much Rovers means to the community in which it serves.

The supporter-base is the backbone on which a club is built, and the fortunes of the first-team drive not just those of the club, but those who follow it.

The defeat to Barnsley was a dark day and now it’s a time for the players to provide some light at the end of the Championship tunnel for the long-suffering fans.