Tony Mowbray says Rovers will continue to work to find the answers to their goalscoring issues amid concerns over the fitness of Adam Armstrong.

Mowbray revealed he came close to substituting the 20-goal frontman at half-time of Tuesday’s defeat at Reading, a sixth in seven matches, and the ninth time they have failed to score.

After a blistering start to the campaign, goals have dried up for Rovers, averaging a goal a game since the start of December, and Mowbray says that early season form feels a long time ago.

The manager says they can’t simply be reliant on Armstrong who has now gone four games without a goal for the first time this season.

He said: “If you think back to the first 20 games of the season where we were having 20 shots per game and scoring fours and fives at times, that looks a long way away, at the moment. Is it the personnel? We’re just trying to find the answers.

“The last 20 metres is a real problem for us at the moment as we aren’t picking the right passes, or finishing the chances and the possession that we have. It’s a real frustration for us, but we have to keep working on it.

“Maybe the cutting edge in the final third is the missing piece of the jigsaw?”

Mowbray says he and the players discussed how they could get more players into goalscoring positions following the Reading defeat and heading into tomorrow’s game at Millwall.

The Lions are expected to line up with a back three, a system that has caused Rovers trouble of late.

“Saturday will be a totally different proposition,” Mowbray added of the 10th-placed Lions. “We have to try and manage that game and the different problems it will give us and we have to see if we can find the answers in order to get that elusive victory.”