ROVERS will ‘respect’ the Carabao Cup, but Tony Mowbray admits his main focus remains winning promotion from League One this season.

Mowbray returns to former club Coventry City this evening (7.45pm) as Rovers take a break from league action with a first round cup tie.

Injuries to Darragh Lenihan and Bradley Dack means there will be changes from the side which lost at Southend United on the opening day.

With Craig Conway and Ben Gladwin also missing Mowbray admits that restricts the amount of changes he will make for the game.

“The Carabao Cup has to be respected,” Mowbray said. “We can draw huge Premier League clubs, or you can progress through the competition.

“Realistically, are we going to be involved in a Wembley final? Probably not.

“That’s not me being negative, as your aim is to win every game, the main target, and only target in Rovers’ fans eyes, is to get out of this league this season.

“It will be a balance picking a team. We need to be careful with the players that you know if you push them too hard then they are probably going to break down and you need to protect them in these sorts of games.”

Goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler and full-back Paul Caddis will be eyeing Rovers debuts, while Elliott Ward, Corry Evans, Liam Feeney and Harry Chapman will also come in to consideration.

Dominic Samuel may also start against the club he spent time on loan at in 2014/15.

Mowbray is still looking to add more competition to his ranks, with the transfer window open until August 31, and he revealed he won’t take any undue risks with his squad in the early weeks of the season.

He added: “At this moment in time you have to take care of them and look after them.

“When everyone is fit there are potentially going to be a few headaches but very rarely do you have a fully fit squad.

“The numbers around training have been pretty low. Generally I would like to train with 20 outfield players but we have had to bring the Under-23s over.

“We will still put out a pretty strong team and we are looking forward to the challenge.”