Tony Mowbray says John Buckley and Joe Rankin-Costello can learn a lot from the development of Lewis Travis and Ryan Nyambe as they bid to become first-team regulars at Rovers.

Mowbray admits the pair are ‘going the process’ and acknowledges their reaction to being dipped in and out of first-team action is key to their learning.

Buckley has started back-to-back matches against Charlton and Brentford, with Rankin-Costello having done similar against Middlesbrough and Fulham.

The pair have both been tipped for bright futures, and have been around the senior squad all season, having graduated through the Academy. Travis and Nyambe are two Brockhall graduates cemented in Mowbray’s first-choice side, but both previously had spells in and out of the side.

“Travis has been through that, you can use him as an example, Nyambe as well, they’re pretty cemented in our team now. In time I think John Buckley and Joe Rankin-Costello will be pretty cemented in our team somewhere down the line,” Mowbray explained.

“At the moment they’re going through the process. They’ve been put in and had some pretty harsh experiences within the games they’ve played, but they’ve been very good in some of the games they’ve played and given us some really bright moments.

“I think their time will come when they are regulars and we can’t imagine them not being in the starting XI.”

Mowbray has regularly praised the work ethic of his young group, with many staying behind after hours to work on the game whether it be out on the training pitches, or in the analysis booths with the first-team coaching staff.

The manager believes that will stand them in good stead moving forward, but admits more opportunities will soon follow.

Rankin-Costello is fit again after a hamstring injury, and will hope to return to the matchday squad against Stoke City tonight, with Buckley, a goalscorer in the win at Charlton, aiming to making a hat-trick of Championship starts.

“I watch them in training every day, they go through the emotions but I tell them not to get too down when they get left out because sometimes it’s not to your performance level, but because someone else gets fit with real experience and who we trust,” Mowbray said of the 20-year-old pair.

“I only talk about my experiences of being in and then out, in and then out, to then one day your performances get to such a level that you can’t be left out any more because you’re one of the best players and you have to play every week.

“How important is it to put them in and take them out? Well, I think the biggest time is to keep talking to them, keep letting them know your thoughts and why they’re playing this week or not, and when they play they might have to play in a position where there’s a weakness, how they have to get on the ball and play forward, and know their job.

“As long as they can prove themselves on the grass, they’ll be fine. They’re good players, they’re growing and as I’ve said all along, no-one does more extra work than Buckley and Rankin-Costello, Nyambe, Travis, all they ever do is extra training after we finish because they want to learn, be better footballers and help the team win.

“That’s fantastic when you have a group of footballers like that who want to push forward their careers.”