Rovers face more defensive disruption for the weekend visit of Sheffield United with Jan Paul van Hecke set for a three-game ban following his red card in the capitulation against Fulham.

The Dutchman was shown a straight red card after only half an hour of the 7-0 defeat at Ewood as goals from two goals from Neeskens Kebano, Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz, and solitary strike from Aleksandar Mitrovic gave the visitors the three points on an embarrassing night for the hosts.

Rovers were already without Daniel Ayala and Harry Pickering because of calf problems and the pair are likely to miss the visit of Sheffield United, the final game before the international break.

Concern remains over Ryan Nyambe’s ability to play at the weekend after only just returning from a hamstring injury, the Namibia international playing 90 minutes only 10 days after limping out of the Reading win with a tight hamstring.

Hayden Carter replaced van Hecke and could profit from his unavailability, with Joe Rankin-Costello and Scott Wharton both fit again, but Mowbray will be wary of risking them after extended injury lay-offs.

Rankin-Costello got his first minutes of the season after overcoming a broken foot, playing the final half hour of the Fulham defeat. He played two days earlier for the Under-23s, coming through 90 minutes in the 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.

Scott Wharton did likewise, his fourth outing for Mike Sheron’s side following his return from 11 months out with a ruptured Achilles.

Wharton wasn’t named in the squad against Fulham, and Mowbray will likely consider it too soon to throw the 24-year-old into the action.

On the red card, he said: “He’s a young central defender who is pretty competitive, and probably made a rash decision going with his boot rather than his head.

“I asked him why he didn’t try and head it and I’m pretty sure there was no malice in it.

“It gave us severe problems to try and deal with it.”