Tony Mowbray will now get two full days of preparation time with his players after choosing not to include a number of senior players in the squad which travelled to Bournemouth.

Five of the starting XI in last weekend’s win at Stoke City – Richie Smallwood, Corry Evans, Elliott Bennett, Bradley Dack and Danny Graham – were given the night off on Tuesday.

Mowbray made six changes in all which saw him keep the same back four, and goalkeeper, as the Stoke win, while Harrison Reed came off the bench in the second half.

The players returned to East Lancashire in the early hours of Wednesday morning and those that played with go through a light session on Thursday.

But with Charlie Mulgrew set to return to full training tomorrow, Mowbray will be able to do work with more of his expected starting XI for Saturday’s home match with Nottingham Forest which the boss prioritised.

He explained: “You have seen how hard the team have been working and the players I have been asking a lot from and working at the top end of the pitch, pressing really hard, to come here and play against a Premier League side I knew their natural instincts would have been to work extremely hard and I think Saturday’s game was more important.

“Those players were left at home.

“It is slightly different for defenders who needed to play and to concentrate and not as much physical activity required.

“We kept the back five the same and changed everyone else.

“I still think it was a good performance. We work every day with the group and they all know the demands, what’s expected and thought they applied themselves pretty well.

“I’m not sure there will be much change from the team which went to Stoke and won.

“I gave opportunities to some players to play, I thought they applied themselves well and did a good job.

“But they understand. We had a good performance at Stoke, deservedly won the game and I don’t think there will be many changes.”