The change to nine substitutes, of which five can be used, has seen John Buckley involved in every matchday squad this season, the only Rovers player to have achieved that feat.

However, it could also have been a hindrance and blocked any prospect of a loan move for the 21-year-old midfielder.

Buckley has been around the first-team environment since his debut in 2018 and last month signed a new long-term contract with the club he’s been with all of his life.

He’s now up to 45 appearances for Rovers, 18 of which have come this season, but only twice as a starter. Indeed, he’s managed just 10 minutes of action, across two substitute outings, in Rovers’ last eight matches since being subbed on, and later off, in the win at Middlesbrough.

Buckley has long been tipped for a bright future by Mowbray who has preferred to keep the Academy graduate around rather than take up the loan offers that have come in for him in recent windows.

While Rovers have preferred to their young central defenders out on loan, the case has been different for other outfield players, including Lewis Travis who has blossomed into a first-team regular.

“It’s something that we’ve discussed with John,” Mowbray said of loan interest in Buckley.

“It depends on the time, this season has been so unusual because of the different levels of injuries we’ve had. At some points we’ve had nine, 10, 11 players out injured.

“It’s been very difficult for players that you trust to send them out knowing that you might not see them until the next window knowing that you are battling the number of injuries you’ve had.

“Maybe John could, and should, have gone and played 20 or 30 games in League One and a lot of League One clubs have asked about John.”

Mowbray says Buckley has impressed in training, but the decision not to start him often falls on the trust he has in the more experienced midfield options within his squad.

But the manager says with patience, and time, Buckley’s chance will come.

He added: “His game-time isn’t as much as he would want but at the end of the day he has to compete with men who have been in the game 10 or 11 years and know what it’s about, and when we’re trying to win football matches it’s easier to go with the experience over the lad who can light it up and do the unexpected but is inconsistent, or finds the physical aspect of some matches a bit difficult to handle.

“At this moment his career is where it is, he’s around it, trains every day with the first-team, he’s around the players, he knocks on my door sometimes because he does so well in training and he feels that he should be playing.

“Yet that’s my balance, my decision who plays. Do I play Holtby or Johnson, Travis, Trybull, Evans, ahead of John Buckley who does well in some training sessions and looks a real talent? It comes down to trust ultimately your decisions on players.

“John is doing well, he’s got a new contract on the back of what we see every day and know he’s going to be a top player for this club. He just has to bide his time and see where it takes him.”