TONY Mowbray will mark his 50th game in charge of Rovers in Saturday’s home game with Shrewsbury. His previous 49 have brought 23 wins, 16 draws and just 10 defeats.

He amassed 22 points in his 15 games at the end of last season when appointed as Owen Coyle’s successor in February. 

That wasn’t enough to keep Rovers in the Championship but Mowbray, after discussions with owners Venky’s, secured his own future and has since set about building the foundations for future success at Ewood Park having himself signed an extended deal through to 2019.

He has overseen the signing of some exciting young talent with the potential to develop alongside the upward curve the club is looking to take.

Rovers now have a core of a squad, on extended contracts, and at the right age who can develop together to move the club forward.

Mowbray has a clear desire to build for the long-term. However, that is something of a balancing act for himself and the club, with promotion this season ‎a major priority to ensure the feel-good factor he has built up shows no sign of subsiding.

The disappointment and frustration at recent dropped points show the high standards that have been set of late.

A relentless pace shown by the top two leaves Rovers still having ground to make up moving in to the second half of the season, with no bigger game for Mowbray to mark his half century than Shrewsbury this weekend.

Rovers have craved stability for so long, and Mowbray seemingly has the ear of the owners, a new Chief Executive in Steve Waggott been appointed, as well as a new scouting system being implemented, the signs look promising.

But those long-term visions and aspirations will only be achieved through what is achieved on the pitch at 3pm on a Saturday.

That will continue to dictate the fortunes of the club, and Mowbray is well aware of the demands to get Rovers up.

But his honesty is refreshing, his outlook positive, his workrate unrelenting and all done with the humility of someone who knows his responsibilities as manager.

The club is starting to feel as one again, with a solidarity between supporters and players, with some excellent work within the community over the Christmas period demonstrating just that.

Mowbray has stressed all along that this squad, helped by some fresh additions this month, will only get stronger.

Few can doubt that at the moment given Rovers have won eight and drawn six of their previous 14 league games.

A similar run will leave them handily placed at Easter and ready for the business end of the season.

But as Mowbray reaches his half century, he knows ‎plenty of hard work lies ahead.