Tony Mowbray admits his top six ambition may be weighing heavy on some of his young players - but the boss maintains high expectations are key for the club to push on.

Rovers ended their six game wait for a win when John Buckley came off the bench to score a dramatic injury time winner against Sheffield Wednesday at Ewood Park.

A fifth win of the season leaves them 16th with a third of the season gone, short of the target Mowbray set his players at the start of the campaign.

Mowbray said ahead of the game that it was right to be ambitious and accepted he would be judged on such targets.

And he maintains it’s the right stance to take, even though it may have raised the stakes for his players.

He explained: “Maybe the expectation of my comments about the top six have weighed heavy on some of the young players.

“I truly believe, as I said last week, you have to have an ambition, you have to want to push on.

“This is Blackburn Rovers, Premier League winners.

“Some people will say that over the total history they are back where they have been for long spells, middle of the Championship. A town club, and there’s some massive teams in this league with 30,000 watching every club.

“But this a huge club, huge infrastructure, owners that support the team and we have to push on.

“Sometimes we haven’t reached the heights I’ve been striving for.”

Rovers ended the game with three Academy prospects on the pitch, and Mowbray said the trio of Ryan Nyambe, Lewis Travis and match-winner Buckley, are all striving to improve every day.

Mowbray wants to see his side build on last season’s 15th-placed finish this term, but admits they are short of their targets so far, with 18 points from 15 games four down on last year, having been left frustrated by results this season, particularly at Ewood.

“I saw Nyambe in the first half, a bit nervous, scared to pass forward, but spoke to him at half time, told him to believe in himself because players like him, Buckley, Travis, they are the three that even if it’s pouring down or freezing cold, those three lads are out on the grass half an hour after the session has finished practising, heading, long passes, shooting, just out there working,” the boss added.

“They deserve success. We’re trying to build the club. I want to get there fast but sometimes you can’t.

“I don’t want to totally change tack because I want this club to get to the Premier League as fast as it can.

“These are tight games. We should have beaten Forest, we had 20-odd shots, we could, and should, have beaten Huddersfield at home if we had got that third goal.

“We should have beaten Luton, beaten Charlton, but we didn’t, we drew a few, lost a few, and the points total is what it is.”