Tony Mowbray said Paul Downing was deserving of keeping his place after naming an unchanged team for Saturday’s draw at Middlesbrough.

For just the second time this season, Mowbray opted against making any changes to his starting XI after the 4-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

That meant both Downing, and winger Craig Conway, kept their places at the Riverside having made rare starts seven day earlier.

That was despite a return to fitness for Irishman Darragh Lenihan who had missed the games against Wigan and Sheffield Wednesday with a hip problem.

“They are always tough decisions,” Mowbray said of opting for Downing.

“Paul Downing hasn’t made our bench at times this season when everyone has been fit but he came in and did a very solid job (against Sheffield Wednesday).

“Those are the decisions that managers make.

“I was a footballer for 18 years and know that if you come in to the team and do a good job you expect the manager to have that faith in you.

“That’s what we did, why wouldn’t we, as the performance against Sheffield Wednesday, really special, front foot football.

“Everyone did their job and I felt they deserved the opportunity to go again.”

Downing looked solid in just his third Championship appearance, but a late error almost moved costly as Britt Assombalonga passed up a great chance to win it for the hosts.

Mowbray added: “I spoke to Paul afterwards and said that his error at the end can define games and you can’t make them.

“He knows that, he understands, because for 98 per cent of the game he was very good and dug in.

“But if that goes in and costs us a point then they are big decisions.

“They are the ones that particularly defenders live and die by, their quality of defending, clearing the danger.

“They had a lot of throw-ins, the crowd were getting behind them, we wanted to keep them quiet and spoke about that. I thought we were pretty resilient.”