ROVERS still have attacking solutions, according to Tony Mowbray, despite losing another key player to injury.

Lewis Holtby has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, as has top scorer Bradley Dack, while fellow creator Joe Rothwell will miss the February fixtures with a hamstring problem.

Already without central midfielder Corry Evans to a fractured skull, it would suggest that Rovers’ options are stretched but Mowbray has confidence that there is enough quality available for Rovers to enjoy a successful end to the season.

Holtby had been seen as the understudy for Dack, making a strong start when netting twice in the 5-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday last month.

And Mowbray said: “We were all excited by Lewis and the fact he could score those scruffy goals, wanted to get in the six yard box and not stand on the edge of things and bend one in from 20 yards.

“He grasped what type of goals we were needing to score and what type of goals this club have scored for a few years. There’s the frustration that Lewis won’t have that opportunity to score those type of goals.

“We have to find a different way now and while Saturday is a tough game against a top team, one I felt we gave lots of problems to early season and I’m sure we will again. We have to find a way with the players that are missing to get a result.”

Rovers have almost exclusively used the 4-2-3-1 formation, largely to accommodate star man Dack, under Mowbray but the boss says there can be a flexibility to how they do things having lost so many forward-thinking players to injury.

“We don’t have to play a No.10, Liverpool who are running away with the Premier League don’t play with a No.10, they play with two wide strikers, a withdrawn centre forward, and three midfield central midfielders who cover the distance across the pitch,” he added.

“There’s lots of ways to play football. We just have to work with the personnel we’ve got and find the best way to ask questions of the opposition and remain solid and hard to play against.

“We have to carry a goal threat and figure it out on the training ground and if we experiment with players playing behind a single striker, if that’s what we decide to do, then we will hope that they can do what Holtby did in his first attempt.

“Ben Brereton is one option, Dominic Samuel is chomping at the bit, we have striking options. Joe Rankin-Costello scored in about the first six Under-23s games from left midfield that I watched and he can get in the six yard box and score goals.

“We’ll try and find a way to play, I don’t think we played Holtby as a standout No.10, he was more the furthest forward in a midfield three, with Downing floating and Travis holding.

“Hopefully the way we do it moving forward gives us the best chance to win the football match.”