Such is the competitive nature of the Championship that Rovers could find themselves anywhere between fourth and 16th come the end of the weekend.

Tony Mowbray’s side travel to West Brom in 10th spot and could draw level on points with their opponents should they record a fourth away win of the season.

But a second straight defeat, after a 3-1 midweek loss at Swansea, will more than likely see Rovers drop into the bottom half.

And midfielder Richie Smallwood is determined to bounce back from that defeat in South Wales and protect a run that has seen Rovers not lose back-to-back games since April 2017.

“We have to make sure if we don’t win games then make sure we don’t lose but we know we are good enough to take all three,” said the 27-year-old ahead of this afternoon’s game.

“If you can put a good run together you can find yourselves at the top end of the table and if you lose a couple on the bounce you can find yourself slipping down, a bit like Brentford at the minute. They were high flying when we managed to beat them and they have lost their manager and look where they find themselves now.

“If you lose a couple, it is that tight then you can find yourself 14th or 15th.

“It is all about putting points on the board.”

That is something Rovers did last season, failing to go more than two matches without recording a win, with their longest winless run this season standing at three games.

The Hawthorns clash is the third of three tough games that Rovers have faced this week and, with a win over table-topping Leeds to show for their efforts so far, Smallwood is keen to take another scalp.

“You look down the fixture list and they are not easy games in this division,” he added.

“It is one we are looking forward to, we have been to some tough places and got results this season so why can’t we do it on Saturday?”

Albion have suffered successive defeats to slip out of the automatic promotion places and were humbled 4-1 by Derby County in midweek.

The Baggies are one of four sides to have topped the table already this month, with three sides locked on 26 points.

And Smallwood is hoping to take advantage of that drop in form.

He added: “I think they have lost their last two and got a bit of a beating on Wednesday night and hopefully we can go there and give them some problems.

“We know we have the quality to do that. We have the quality to score goals and if we defend well and have good organisation and a good gameplan then there is no reason why we can’t get a good result.

“We’ve beaten teams in better form than West Brom are showing at the minute, I know they are right up there in the league and in terms of goals scored.

“We played Leeds last week and they were top of the league and we managed to beat them. We don’t fear anybody, we know we have the quality to hurt teams but we know we have to be bang at it to get three points on Saturday.”