THIS week saw two more away day sell-outs for Rovers with Tony Mowbray’s side to be backed by sold-out support at Walsall on Saturday and AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday.

The connection between those in the stands and the players on the pitch is stronger than it has been for some time.

As Rovers midfielder Elliott Bennett said last week: ‘The gaffer has come in and has been really firm on the fact that you can’t do anything without the supporters’.

Mowbray admits he has taken inspiration from the past as he tries to create a bond between players and fans at Ewood.

He has enjoyed the support of the fanbase since his opening game at Burton Albion in which a sold-out following from East Lancashire packed the stand behind the goal at the Pirelli Stadium.

Mowbray revealed that memories of growing up in Teesside and watching Middlesbrough stick in his mind having crossed from fan to player and now manager.

He said: “I’m from a working class background. I started the Celtic huddle in 1994 because of needing a connection between the supporters and the footballers on the pitch. That’s something that continues through to today.

“I’ve always felt that coming from a working class background, I was a young supporter going with my dad, trying to find a parking space down a side street and walking down the streets and feeling the atmosphere, smelling the Bovril 100 yards away, walking down the steps and on to the terrace.

“People put a lot of their lives into their football team and I’ve always felt that if you’re fortunate enough to get on that grass you should be playing for the people, for the fans.

“It’s important to create a connection because you are the standard bearer, you are carrying the flag for the people of the town and that’s how I’ve always tried to inspire my teams to tell them that they are passing through but the supporters are a constant.

“You play for, or manage, a club yet the fans will always support their team and you have to give everything you’ve got and show the people you care.”

There is an expectation from Rovers supporters to win promotion to the Championship at the first attempt.

And that desire is shared by Mowbray and his players as they enter the final 13 games of the season.

However, they were booed off at half-time in Monday’s win over Bury before scoring twice in the second half to walk away with the three points.

And on three points being the magic formula to the feeling at a club, Mowbray said: “Nothing was clearer than Bury about winning a game of football.

“The fans are entitled to show their frustrations if things are not going as they expected and at the end of the game they are singing ole with the passes.

“I think it’s a nervous energy, nervous tension and I think everyone feels it because you want your team to do well.

“When it’s not going as well that frustration comes out in different ways but our job as the professionals is to try and stay really focussed and at the end of 90 minutes be in a position to win the game.

“We’re a step closer to accruing the number of points that will take us in to the top two.”