Cardiff City are making their push for the play-offs at the same time as Rovers are slipping away and Tony Mowbray believes it will be more than just a physical challenge for his players tonight.

At a time when their play-off rivals have slipped up, Neil Harris’ side have taken 14 points from the last 18 available to move in to the top six.

They have a three-point cushion over Preston after a last-gasp win at Bristol City on Saturday, their fourth clean sheet in five matches.

Neil Warnock left the club towards the end of 2019, with Harris replacing him at a time when the play-offs seemed like a distant dream. But the Bluebirds are now in pole position, having timed their run just right.

“It’s tough coming out of the Premier League and every team is different,” Mowbray said.

“Cardiff have taken some time to bounce back but have some strong, physical, focused footballers who played in the Premier League last year.

“Maybe they should be in the top echelons of this season, competing for the top six now.

“We have to impose ourselves now. We have to go and compete, show them what a good team we are and try and impose our style on them and see how we get on.

“We understand their physical threat, their results over recent weeks, they’ve had a lot of victories, coming at just the right time.

“We know it’s a tough game but I think we can instil our style of play on them, our composure, ask them questions and hopefully when the chances come along we can take a few of them.”

A strong central defensive pairing of Sean Morrison and Craig Nelson, and the long throw threat of Will Vaulks, makes Cardiff a tough test for any side in the division.

But Mowbray feels they are better than simply being a team known for their physicality, and praised the job of opposite number Harris.

He added: “They have Will Vaulks who can damage you with those long throws, in to your six yard box.

“The centre halves, the strikers, the long throws, yet they’re better than that. The boy (Joe) Ralls playing in that No.10 role, (Lee) Tomlin to come off the bench whose clever and inventive.

“They’re a good team and I like their manager. He was at Millwall for a long time and now he’s got a similar structure with a bigger budget, more experienced players, and is doing pretty well at the moment.”