Ben Brereton added two more goals to his impressive haul as Rovers beat Peterborough United 4-0 at Ewood Park.

The Chile international is now up to 16 goals, with six in his last five matches, after a brace against Posh backed up headed efforts from Harry Pickering and Darragh Lenihan.

Rovers now stand seventh in the table with 19 games played as they keep outperforming expectation with their home form a real strong force with this their sixth success in 10 Ewood fixtures.

The one downside was the sight of Daniel Ayala, only just back from a calf injury, limping off inside the opening half hour.

His possible absence from the weekend trip to Stoke City is softened somewhat by the fact that Brighton loanee Jan Paul van Hecke will be avialable having served the third and final game of his suspension last night following his red card against Fulham.

 

Three weeks on from the humbling at the hands of Fulham this time it was Rovers dishing out the thrashing.

Given Rovers’ recent history of throwing away comfortable positions at Ewood Park it probably took until the fourth goal went in for the home supporters to feel the three points were firmly in the bag.

The hard work was done in the first half though, three goals to the good having knocked the ball around with real purpose in their new-look formation.

Mowbray went with the back three that helped change the game at Bristol City but with only a handful of training sessions inbetween there was a sense of them feeling their way into the system. But once it clicked, they played with a positive intent and threatened to blow away the visitors.

One of the requirements was for the outside centre halves, in this case Darragh Lenihan and Scott Wharton to step into midfield, and that worked to good effect to bring Rovers the lead in the 15th minute.

He got forward before laying a square pass to John Buckley whose cross was met by left wing-back Pickering who attacked it well before planting a looping header over David Cornell.

Up to that point it had been something of a tactical battle with Peterborough also moving away from their usual back four to play with a three-man defence.

Rovers had made four changes to accommodate their formation switch, with Daniel Ayala coming into the defence along with Pickering, while there were recalls further forward for Joe Rothwell and Tyrhys Dolan.

Pickering curled over a third minute free kick before Rovers did threaten the Posh goal after Rothwell exchanged passes with Brereton before a side-foot effort was saved by the ‘keeper.

For their poor away record, and lowly league position, Posh were knocking the ball around with some level of authority, though that would have been no surprise to Tony Mowbray who warned of such ahead of the game.

Rovers were enjoying success knocking the ball around themselves though, but were dealt a blow inside the opening half hour as Ayala, only just back from injury and imperious against Bristol City, limped off.

Bradley Johnson was his replacement though Mowbray resisted changing formations, instead using the midfielder in the heart of the back three in a straight swap.

Posh were inviting pressure with their insistence on playing out from the back and Rovers made them pay 10 minutes before the break. Nathan Thompson had several chances to clear but he picked the wrong man to try dribble beyond as the tenacious Dolan robbed him of possession before squaring for Brereton tap into the empty net.

That came with the very next attack after Posh had threatened an equaliser, Wharton well placed to throw himself in the way of a Sammie Szmodics shot from a Joe Ward pull-back after good work from Sikiri Dembele.

Rovers found time for a third before the break, Lenihan ghosting in unmarked a the far post to meet a Rothwell free kick and head beyond Cornell on the stroke of half time.

Posh emerged for the second half with a double change and looking for a goal to get themselves back into the game and possibly trigger some Rovers nerves.

In the opening five minutes of the second half they had a golden chance to do that, Rovers cut open as Szmodics ran off the back of Lenihan but was denied by a good Thomas Kaminski save when one-on-one.

Any lingering nerves or doubts about the result were put to bed on the hour when Rovers punished more Peterborough naivety. Rothwell intercepted a pass on half way before sliding in Brereton who was never going to miss as he lifted the ball over Cornell.

That was his last kick, with no time for a hat-trick as Reda Khadra replaced him for the final half hour.

Posh should have had one back, only for Clarke-Harris to head straight at Kaminski when found unmarked, with Rovers then looking to see the game out with relative comfort as they stroked the ball around.

Khadra and Dan Butterworth were both keen to impress in their cameo outings and threatened a fifth with efforts from outside the box, the game long since won by this point.

The one task was to try and see out a fourth clean sheet of the season, something they did with little fuss.

Rovers: Thomas Kaminski 7, Ryan Nyambe 7, Darragh Lenihan 8, Daniel Ayala 6 (Bradley Johnson, 27), Scott Wharton 8, Harry Pickering 8, Lewis Travis 7, Joe Rothwell 8, John Buckley 8 (Dan Butterworth, 68), Tyrhys Dolan 8, Ben Brereton 8 (Reda Khadra, 61)

Subs: Aynsley Pears, Tayo Edun, Leighton Clarkson, Jacob Davenport

Peterborough: Cornell, Thompson, Kent (Edwards, 46), Beevers (Burrows, 46), Butler, Taylor, Norburn, Ward, Szmodics, Dembele, Clarke-Harris

Subs: Blackmore, Grant, Knight, Poku, Coventry