TONY Mowbray says Ben Brereton ‘won’t fall down on talent’ after handing the attacker just a third Championship start of the season.

Brereton was the one change for Sunday’s defeat at Derby as reward for enterprising cameo off the bench in the 2-2 draw with Swansea City the previous weekend.

The 20-year-old missed a good chance early in the game and was substituted in the second half having struggled to make an impact.

Brereton missed three months of action after an operation on his knee, with all three of his starts this season coming on the road in what has been another difficult season for the £6m signing.

Mowbray has long maintained faith that Brereton will come good, having previously found opportunities limited by the form of Bradley Dack, but says more opportunities will be around the corner for the former England youth international.

“I think with Ben, I don’t think I’m saying something I haven’t said but I’ve never questioned his talent. I’ve never questioned his ability to beat men, drag it from foot to foot and score goals because he does that fantastically well in training,” he said.

“The main problem for Ben in the past 18 months is trying to get in front of the players in the team that have been pretty successful. I think that has sort of moving on as time goes on. Bradley is obviously injured and Danny is 34 now, so there is more opportunities in the future I would suggest for Ben.

“I’m pretty sure he won’t fall down on talent, as I’ve talked to you in the past about. Hopefully the maturity of the past 18 months, two years is turning him into a different animal and I think we can all reap the benefits of that. This team will reap the benefits of that

“I think the likes of Armstrong, Gallagher, Brereton, Samuel and Graham and Dack, Rothwell and Downing, it’s hopefully got some goals in it and some attacking threat.

“I talked about trying to build the team and having options in that part of the pitch as well, and in the middle.

“Some days you need to be solid and stop transition, and on other days when you don’t feel a threat from the opposition midfield you have technical players who can break in the box and pick the right passes as well.

“I throw a cliché at you now, how many strings on the bow have you got really?

“How many arrows have you got in your quiver.”

Brereton was Rovers’ big-money buy following promotion from League One, but he has made just seven starts in the league, with his one goal coming in last April’s home win over Bolton.

There have been flashes  of what he can offer since, not least when winning a penalty and going close to netting in the draw with Swansea, and Mowbray has previously said Brereton would need time to mature.

Though the manager believes ‘his time is coming’ as he looks to become a more regular starter.

“Definitely, that’s why he is here. That’s why we invested the money in him really,” Mowbray added.

“It has been a waiting game and yet, as I’ve said, for 18 months, if Dack and Graham were scoring goals and the team was functioning and doing okay then that’s life, football is a competition within a competition, within our squad.

He added: “But his time is coming and now he has to step up and be the man. Gallagher, Brereton, Armstrong, moving forward they have to score the goals that takes this club where it wants to go.”