Rovers players performed a post-match huddle on the pitch after the win over Sheffield Wednesday and on Monday took part in a team bonding day out Go-Karting.

Boss Tony Mowbray felt the huddle, co-ordinated by captain Elliott Bennett, would have demonstrated to supporters that their spirit, even during a tough spell of results, should never be called in to question.

The players were given chance to further strengthen their bond during a trip out on Monday before returning to the normality of training on Tuesday.

Bennett took over the armband in the wake of Charlie Mulgrew’s departure and Mowbray has been keen throughout his time at the club to pass the ownership of the team on to his players, something he felt a day away from the surroundings of Brockhall would help grow.

He said: “I didn’t see the team’s huddle at the end of the game, but I’m delighted they’ve done that because as I’ve said before, this is their team.

“I pick the team, train them and try to inspire them with words but the bottom line is, this is their team, they’re a group of men who will hopefully be friends in 20 years time.

“For the team to have the huddle there at the end, it shows the fans that they care and are working hard for their club.

“It would have been easy, had we lost 1-0 (on Saturday) for people to say, ‘what’s going on?’, ‘the players are giving in’. But the players are never going to give in, even when I saw the devastation in our dressing room at Preston.

“The fact that they’re never going to give up is what gives me the spirit and heart to keep pushing with them, keep working them and keep asking questions of them and we got the rewards from all of that.”

Rovers had taken just two points from a possible 18 before the weekend, and looked to be heading for a fifth defeat in seven matches until their late fightback.

The work on the training pitch ahead of the game focused on becoming more disciplined, with midfielder Corry Evans revealing a series of team meetings had helped draw the line under the recent dip in results.

And Mowbray felt his side demonstrated the battling qualities missing in the defeat at Birmingham last month to come from behind to win for the first time since April 2018.

“I’m just pleased for everyone really because I feel like there’s been a bit of a cloud hanging over the place the last couple of weeks, the team tried really hard against Preston North End, were fantastic for a majority of that game and yet some really poor defending cost us,” Mowbray explained.

“I thought they took onboard the messages we gave them throughout the course of the week about ‘being a man’, ‘standing up’, ‘doing their job’.

“I told them to ‘forget tactics and positional play and go and win some headers and tackles and put their bodies on the line’ which I thought they did.

“Sometimes basic man-to-man chats and basic coaching are what’s needed and yet, among all of that, we’re trying to be better.”