Tony Mowbray expects Amari’i Bell and Derrick Williams to be in contention for Rovers’ Championship re-start against Bristol City next week.

The pair missed Thursday’s practice game with Liverpool, but the Rovers boss said that was merely a precaution, as they gear up for their June 20 date with the Robins. 

Their absence meant Joe Rankin-Costello was forced to fill in on the left-side of the defence in the 6-0 defeat at Anfield.

Bell has been a regular at left back since Greg Cunningham sustained a season-ending injury in October, while Williams  has endured a frustrating season with injuries and has played just once in 2020.

Mowbray hopes to have both available for the game with Lee Johnson's side, and could take the opportunity to give the pair a run-out in an inter-squad practice game at Ewood next week. 

“Derrick’s feeling his calf a little bit, albeit it’s not a major problem,” Mowbray told the club website.

“Elsewhere, Amari’i took a knock in training and it wasn’t worth taking the risk with him.

“They’re the scenarios at the moment. The difficulty with these things now is that if a physio comes to you and says that a little niggle is going to put a player out for two or three weeks, he’ll actually be missing five games.

“That’s going to be the issue as we move forward."