Tony Mowbray felt the 5-1 win over Cardiff City was more satisfying than the thumping victories of last season as Rovers maintained their spot in the Championship’s top six.

Rovers hit five for the fourth time in a little over a year, with wins over Wycombe Wanderers, Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town, but having dealt with the Bluebirds’ physical threat, Mowbray felt this was a stand-out three points for his side.

Ben Brereton scored a hat-trick, as Sam Gallagher and Tyrhys Dolan were also on target, as Mowbray celebrated a fourth win of the season on a day when Rovers looked a threat from the moment they went 1-0 ahead.

The manager said he built up the Cardiff set piece threat, revealing that was something they had worked hard on trying to repel, and felt a team effort contributed to the victory, despite Brereton commanding the headlines.

“It was pleasing because we’ve been doing a lot of work, we’d had a week to prepare for this game and we had to try and get it right at both ends of the pitch with their set plays. They almost scored from their first long throw after all the work we’d been doing this week,” Mowbray said.

“We were pretty low on possession but the number of chances we’re creating and the threat we can carry when teams feel comfortable with the ball and we can nick it and break away with Brereton, Rothwell, Dolan, Gallagher, we can be a real threat.

“We’re happy, we’ll keep going, no-one is getting carried away, we’re enjoying working hard together and it’s good that we’re carrying a threat against a real physical team who will give everyone problems.

“Every game is risk and reward. They have three giants playing at the break, a 6’5 centre forward, and we have a lot of mobility and good movement at the top end of the pitch and the fact you’re 6’5 means you’re not going to be as mobile as a sharp, nippy striker.

“We tried to bring them on to us but knowing that you can’t just let them keep putting the ball into your box because you know they will score.

“It was trying to get the right balance about how much of the ball we could give up but how good we could be on the transition with the first pass and release the players to breakaway.”

Brereton scored twice in the first half, his opener a fine volleyed finish from a Dolan cross, before a solo effort, with some fortune thrown in, saw him grab a second.

His third was from the penalty spot, but it was his work off the ball to go alongside his goals that was picked out by his manager.

Mowbray added: “The starting point is his workrate, strikers always get the glory of scoring goals but he’s a kid who works his socks off for this team, up and down, he’s not playing down the middle, the Adam Armstrong centre forward who is just there to finish things off, he’s working extraordinarily hard, tracking full backs, yet getting in the box and being a goal threat.

“The physical output has been amazing really and the fact he’s developing his finishing techniques, how he’s working on coming in from the left and bending balls into the far corner, just delighted he’s getting the rewards for all the hard work he’s putting in, as they all are.

“Our training sessions are less group training, more individual development sessions, and the team are seeing the benefits of that I think.”

The five goals came a week after Rovers managed just two shots on target in the 0-0 draw at Barnsley.

That was the first time they hadn’t scored this season, but back-to-back clean sheets had given them confidence in a bid to keep out a Cardiff side whose threat came from long throws and corners.

“I feel as though the group is really engaged with the information, they’re generally very young players, they understand that when I sometimes over-emphasise, I had them thinking we were playing the world’s, biggest, strongest team, so it heightened their emotions for the match,” Mowbray said of the preparations.

“I have to tell them as well as ‘this is Cardiff City, we’re not playing Real Madrid on steroids, we’re playing Cardiff City, so don’t go out there with any fear while recognising and realising the opposition have some real qualities.

“I thought we got the balance well, dealt with their directness and throw-ins and then picked them off with the quality we’ve got.

“We’re happy and let’s keep going on.”