Danny Graham says Sam Gallagher has been ‘a different animal’ in training after a confidence-boosting winning goal at Stoke City.

The winner was just his second since a £5m move from Southampton in the summer, with Graham the first to congratulate the 24-year-old at the final whistle.

Gallagher replaced Graham on the hour mark at the bet365 Stadium but has largely been preferred so far this season.

But the experienced frontman hopes the goal can be a catalyst for Gallagher whose previous goal came in the derby defeat at Preston in October.

“I was delighted for Sam and I went straight across to him at full time because I feel as though he has a lot to offer this football club and just hasn’t quite got going as yet,” Graham said.

“You can see his physical attributes, his pace, and he just needs to add goals to his game and hopefully that will set him off and he get some more.

“The winning goal, the manner it came, at 1-1 most fans were probably thinking ‘here we go again’ but to get the goal for Sam it can only fill him with confidence.

“The couple of days we’ve trained this week he looks a totally different animal and hopefully that can continue.”

The Stoke win was Rovers’ third in a week, moving them back in to the top half and helped alleviate some of the pressure that was building after just one win in eight.

Asked if he could feel anxiety building among the fanbase, as touched upon boss Tony Mowbray after the Barnsley win, Graham said: “I did. You could feel it around the place, in games, and I think that rubbed off on certain players in games, you could see.

“It was quite a bad run, one win in eight and a number of losses in there.

“But for the boys to bounce back with the way they have and win three games in a week and propel up the league is a massive credit to everyone who was involved.”

The 34-year-old remains a popular figure with supporters who welcome his return to the side for the win over Brentford before keeping his place at Stoke.

And Graham hopes the level of support shown to him can be reflected across the board as Rovers aim to make it four wins in a row when they host Derby County this afternoon.

He added: “It’s great. Ever since I have come in I have had a strong bond with the fans and feel the same about them as they do me.

“But it’s a team game and I want them to get behind whoever is playing on any given day.

“They can be a massive help for us if we want to push and get in the play-offs.”

Rovers struggled to see off bottom side Barnsley last month before following it up with a season’s best performance in the win over Brentford to make it a hat-trick of Ewood wins in November.

And Graham praised defensive duo Darragh Lenihan and Tosin Adarabioyo for their display in the win at Stoke as Rovers chalked up a first away win since September 21.

“I think it did. There was contrasting performances,” Graham said of whether the Brentford win was Rovers at their best.

“Barnsley was just about getting three points, no matter how you do it, how it looks doesn’t matter, just get the three points on the board.

“We wanted to get a bit of confidence back and I think you could see that in the Brentford game, against a very good footballing team. They’re a massive threat going forward and we defended ever so well.

“To go to Stoke where they have a great squad on paper, but are in the bottom three, and the fans were probably looking at that as going there and getting three points.

“Darragh and Tosin defended ever so well against Sam Vokes who is a big handful and that win filled everyone with massive confidence again and belief that we have to use that, bottle it up and go again in this week that’s coming at us very quick.”