Tony Mowbray believes Adam Armstrong was deserving of the captain’s armband for the increasing maturity he’s showing both on and off the field.

Armstrong will mark his 150th appearance for Rovers against Watford at Ewood Park tonight having worn the armband at Nottingham Forest on Saturday - with Darragh Lenihan out injured and Elliott Bennett on the bench.

Whether he leads the side tonight will depend on the likelihood of Bennett returning to the side at right back, but Mowbray feels the 24-year-old striker is becoming more of a voice in the dressing room.

Although the 20-goal top scorer has proven to be a worthy candidate, the manager feels he is without several other contenders for the captaincy, and is happy with the level of experience and character within the dressing room.

He told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I think there’s enough, but not all of those are available at the moment.

“When we’ve got a full squad we’ve got lots of captains potentially, Ayala, Johnson, Bennett, Lenihan, Williams, all captaincy material.

“With the selection as it is, Adam Armstrong in my opinion has been a standout, high quality footballer in the team and leads by example.

“To be fair he’s growing and maturing and he’s had a fair bit to say after some games and I think it was the right thing to give Adam the armband because of the maturity he’s been showing in our team environment.”

Armstrong will reach the milestone of 150 games for the club having been involved in all but four fixtures since signing initially on loan in January 2018. He has since scored 55 times, including 34 in his last 59 matches, and will look to mark the milestone with a 20th league goal of the season.

Tonight’s visit of Watford is the first of five home matches for Rovers before March 20 when the next international break begins.

Rovers have struggled at home of late, with just two wins in their last seven Ewood fixtures.

Mowbray has looked for his side to play a little differently on home soil, going a bit more direct to negate the difficult Ewood Park playing surface.

However, he says a run of home games isn’t quite the advantage it would otherwise be as matches continue to be played behind closed doors.

But they do face a Watford side who despite their lofty position, have scored just eight times in their 15 away matches.

“We’ve talked about what we feel about the pitch at home, there’s no advantage without crowds,” Mowbray added.

“The quality of the team will decide whether we can get results or not.

“We’re playing against a good side, lots of Premier League quality footballers and one of the best squads in the league.

“In my opinion it’s irrelevant, people can have their opinions of course of where you win your matches, home or away, but it’s just the next game for us and we’ll see how we get on.”