Tony Mowbray admits Rovers have had ‘no time to adjust’ to the loss of Bradley Dack and feels it will take time to settle in to a new way of playing.

Rovers again went with two strikers as they begin life without the 10-goal attacker who will miss much of 2020 with an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury.

A 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield, which ended Rovers’ unbeaten run at eight matches, was their third game last week and they face two more this, travelling to Nottingham Forest tomorrow and Birmingham City in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The hectic schedule has given Mowbray and his coaching staff little time to work on finding a solution to dealing with the absence of top scorer Dack, and the boss feels it is his goals that will be missed most.

“I think you have taken goals out of the team, that’s the main thing. The question is where are the goals going to come from?” Mowbray said of the loss of Dack.

“In my opinion Bradley Dack would have undoubtedly got another eight, 10, 12 goals from now until the end of the season.

“I think Bradley Dack would have scored that skirmish around the six-yard box in the first half before we scored because he has that natural instinct to be where the ball is in the six yard box to score.

“That’s the challenge for us. People have to step up to the mark for us.

“Whether we play with a No.10 or go with two strikers, we’ll have to wait and see.

“We’ve had no time to adjust to it, other than doing our recovery work and then walking through some shape the day before a game.

“After the cup match against Birmingham we’ll have more time to work with the players on the grass and have a better idea of the options that we’ve got.”

Rovers travel to the City Ground where Ben Brereton, an unused substitute in each of the last three matches, could get an opportunity from the start as he returns to his former club.

Armstrong, used off the bench against Huddersfield, will be another eyeing a start having taken his tally to six for the season with his penalty against Birmingham.

Rovers do have options in the No.10 role that Dack has made his own over the course of the last two-and-a-half years, with Lewis Holtby a possibility should he be able to shake off the knock that saw him miss out at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Should their FA Cup tie not need a replay, then Rovers will have a week between each of their next six fixtures, and also have the option of dipping in the transfer market with the window opening tomorrow.

However, Mowbray has already hinted that the solution for Dack’s injury may have to come from within given the funds available for transfers in January.

“After Birmingham cup game we have four or five weeks of Saturday-Saturday games,” Mowbray added.

“That will be the time we have to decide how we’re going to do it, whether we’re going to play a Holtby, Rothwell or Buckley behind a striker or play two strikers.

“That will give you more time to work on it, but at the moment it’s all about recovery for the next game.”