Rovers will be mindful of further injuries as Tony Mowbray contemplates changes for the visit of Swansea City.

While the manager has no fresh concerns ahead of the weekend as Rovers look to keep up pressure on the top six, Mowbray could freshen things up for the third game in a week.

However, options to change are limited, given the injuries to Bradley Dack, Lewis Holtby and Corry Evans, as well as the suspension set to be served by Darragh Lenihan.

Joe Rothwell and Sam Gallagher returned from hamstring and groin problems respectively to start against Stoke in Wednesday’s 0-0 draw, but Mowbray is wary of them starting back-to-back matches after their recent lay-offs.

Mowbray is confident his side can rise to the challenge of playing a third game in the space of seven days, but says fitness concerns are in the back of his mind when it comes to selection, as Rovers look to close the current four-point gap to the top six.

He said: “I think we have to be mindful of some of the players that have been out, Rothwell and Gallagher have missed a good few weeks.

“To bring them straight back and thrust them in to two games in three days is a big ask for those players.

“I’m mindful of muscle injuries, particularly when the numbers are down, of asking the same players to do the job every game.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to change sometimes and the guys who’ve been on the outside to give them an opportunity to say ‘I haven’t played much but here I am, I’m starting and here’s my chance’.

“If there are one or two of them this weekend then let’s see whether they can grab that opportunity.”

Lenihan picked up his 10th yellow card of the season in the early stages of the Potters stalemate and will now miss the home match with Swansea and next weekend’s trip to Derby County.

Rovers have had to contend with unavailability in the second half of the season, but Mowbray doesn’t want to use those as a deflection for results and performances, despite conceding the creativity of Bradley Dack and Lewis Holtby was missing in the Stoke draw.

“Lenihan missing is the main concern and we will have to overcome that,” Mowbray said.

“It’s football, we have to deal with it. People get injured, people get suspended, it’s part and parcel of the game.

“Yet I understand we all get judged on the results at the end of the day. It’s not very often that you’ll say ‘oh it doesn’t matter that we’ve lost X amount of games because we’ve got lots of injuries’.

“That very rarely happens, people judge you on results and we have to find a way to move the team around to make sure we’re functional and give ourselves the best chance to win the game.”

Rovers have lost just one of their last 12 Ewood fixtures, and have taken eight points from their last four matches, with Mowbray believing his side to be functioning well despite the injuries.

He said: “I think the team are functioning alright, I don’t sit here and moan too much I hope about our injury situation.

“I said after the game the other day there’s no point complaining about Dack and Holtby, particularly as the team have been functioning and winning some matches without them.

“Yet when we draw 0-0 it’s easy for me to go ‘well Dack could have scored’ or ‘Holtby might have bent one in to the top corner from 20 yards like he can’.

“We keep going, I don’t worry too much about the personnel, just try and set the team up and look at the assets of the players and look to utilise them to help the team be successful if we can.”