Tony Mowbray said the decision to substitute John Buckley, himself having come off the bench, wasn’t a reflection of the midfielder’s display.

Buckley was introduced as a ninth minute substitute for the injured Bradley Johnson but was brought off moments after Joe Rothwell’s goal at the Riverside. Bradley Dack replaced him in a move to a 4-2-3-1 formation, as goalscorer Rothwell and Harvey Elliott, who claimed the assist, were also brought off for Sam Gallagher and Ben Brereton.

Buckley is Rovers’ most substitute this season, introduced 14 times off the bench, and continued his run of featuring in every matchday squad so far in the weekend win.

Mowbray is an admirer of Buckley’s talents, the midfielder having scored the equaliser in the draw with Stoke City seven days earlier, and backed him after the decision to substitute him.

Indeed, Mowbray said that was based upon the feeling that adding more athleticism at the top end of the pitch could prove the key to victory, as well as the fact that Buckley had been on the pitch for 55 minutes given his early introduction.

“I explained why I made those substitutions and we needed to threaten the spaces behind them,” Mowbray said.

“The legs had to come on to the pitch. John had come on pretty early, it wasn’t as though he had come on and brought off again after 15 minutes.

“In my mind he was almost like a starter so I made the changes that I needed to make.

“John is a young footballer we think really highly of. It wasn’t a reflection on him other than our team needed to start threatening in behind Middlesbrough as they pushed up.”

Rovers were readying the triple change before Rothwell scored what proved to be the only goal, with Mowbray carrying out the changes even going 1-0 up.

Buckley was preferred to Stewart Downing and Tom Trybull, other midfielders on the bench, when Johnson limped off in the early stages with a hamstring strain.

Trybull was called for late on, with Jacob Davenport having gone down after a good shift in the middle of the pitch, and Rovers finished the game much the stronger.

And pleased with what he saw in the closing stages, Mowbray said: “We could have scored again.

“Middlesbrough were pushing us back, we didn’t have the legs other than Armstrong, Harvey Elliott was starting to run out of legs, Rothwell was stretching his hamstrings, and I thought it was time for Gallagher and Brereton to come on and Dack to get on the ball.

“We then had a threat over the top and a threat into feet and we didn’t suffer huge pressure in that last 15 or 20 minutes. If anything we were going to break away and score again.”

Johnson will be assessed ahead of the weekend visit of Luton Town, while Lewis Holtby missed the Riverside trip with a groin issue.

Corry Evans returned to training last week, stepping up his comeback from a hamstring strain sustained in the early stages of the win over QPR in early November and an appearance for the Under-23s is expected in the coming weeks.

Jacob Davenport started his second match for Rovers in the Middlesbrough win, following up his display against Birmingham City as they made it back-to-back away victories for the first time since April 2019.

There he partnered Lewis Travis who has now started four consecutive matches for Rovers since his return from a three-and-a-half month injury absence with the Middlesbrough win being his first completed 90 minutes.