Rovers will check on the fitness of Lewis Holtby today before deciding whether he’s ready to be involved in Saturday’s derby at Preston.

The German midfielder impressed on his first start against Huddersfield, scoring Rovers’ opening goal, but missed Tuesday’s defeat at Birmingham City with a tight hamstring.

Rovers missed his creative spark as they limped to a 1-0 defeat at St Andrew’s, their fifth consecutive match without a victory.

Holtby didn’t travel with the squad to the Midlands and will be given every chance to prove his fitness.

Tony Mowbray wasn’t sure of the extent of Holtby’s injury, only that he was unavailable against Birmingham, or whether he would be fit enough to return this weekend.

There was better news on the injury front as Amari’i Bell, who missed out against Huddersfield with a knee problem, was passed fit to make the squad against Birmingham.

Bell was an unused substitute on Tuesday but would provide a natural option at left back where captain Elliott Bennett has been filling in for the last two matches.

John Buckley was sent on for closing stages of Rovers’ defeat at Birmingham City, and by looking to get on the ball, as well as picking up a booking for a show of aggression, he certainly added something to the side.

Boss Mowbray is looking to get the balance right between having enough technical footballers on the pitch to play the style of football he wants, mixed with the necessary amount of players who can do the hard yards off the ball.

Rovers fell short in both areas against Birmingham, but it was the shortage of fight in his side that was most disappointing to Mowbray whose side lost for the third time in five matches.

Mowbray felt there were positives to take from draws with Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest, but couldn’t take much from the St Andrew’s defeat.

“John Buckley is going to be a good footballer because he’s brave, he wants to play with the ball, make things happens. But he has to bide his time, wait for his chances and I’m sure he’ll be a really good player in the future for us,” he explained.

“We have some good footballers and that’s the balance we’re striving for, having some players with heart and fight and balancing that up with technicality and brave footballers.

“Sometimes you put a team of players who are brave with the ball on the pitch you lose aggression and tenacity. Ultimately you want to fill your team with players who are all good with the ball and have a nasty streak in them but those players are playing in the Premier League so the balance is difficult.

“I think we were really good against Nottingham Forest, for spells against Huddersfield we were really good.”

Winless in five matches, Rovers head to Preston on Saturday looking for a first victory since September 21.

“The statistics add up and you can be hit with them but I’m not really interested in statistics,” Mowbray added.

“I’m more interested in the team performance of the team and what they show on the pitch and they were short.

“The games we drew against Huddersfield and Forest, I thought the performance level and what we got from the team was very good. I want to take positives from them. The defending at QPR was schoolboy, poor, and at Birmingham it was just a lack of fight first half and that’s not something I’ve been able to label at this team for a long, long time.”