Tony Mowbray said he and his players are doing all they can to arrest a slump in form after Rovers lost for a fifth successive match.

Watford’s front three of Joao Pedro, Ismaila Sarr and Ken Sema were all on target in the win, with Rovers twice getting themselves within one courtesy of goals from Harvey Elliott and Ben Brereton.

But a winless February continued for Rovers who have now dropped down to 15th place and remain on 39 points ahead of the weekend visit of Coventry City.

And Mowbray, who made four changes for the visit of the Hornets, said: “I think we’ve had 20 back four combinations, yet I understand the business, we have to win, you have to win games and we’re not winning games and I understand the frustration, the pressure, it’s all there.

“This is a very young team, I’m trying to talk to them very calm after the game about how you have to stick together.

“Every game is tough. I’ve said before that I don’t want to be a burden on this club and hopefully I’m not being a burden, I’m doing my very best with the players we’ve got to try and win matches and be competitive.

“For a lot of this season we’ve been very competitive, scored a lot of goals, created a lot of chances, I’ve got the second top scorer in the league and we look a threat at times.

“Yet if that’s the 20th different defensive set-up then that’s maybe an indication of why it’s not going as well as we might have hoped.”

On his chats with the squad after a fifth successive defeat, Mowbray said: “You have to put their minds in the right place.

“They have to understand, never mind football, I talk about what life is like, everyone goes through adversity in life, whether you have a member of your family who’s ill or someone has lost their job, got bills they can’t pay, whatever the adversity, you have to dig in.

“This is a football club and you have to dig in, everyone has problems and issues in their life and for young guys who are 17 and 18 they have to learn and this is a learning curve for them, they have to dig in now and if they think they’re giving everything they have to give a bit more and see where it takes us.

“They’re good kids, they look you right in the eye.

“At QPR I was booting buckets around and throwing things at the wall, effing and blinding at them, and we’re past that, I’m talking about life and what’s required and what you need to do if you’re going to be a successful footballer and how you have to sacrifice what you have to.

“They’re good kids, they want to do well and I’m sure they’ll bounce back at the weekend and give everything they can.”