Tony Mowbray says no-one will be getting carried away after a fifth win in seven games moved Rovers up to fourth in the Championship – but he revealed the dressing room was ‘bouncing’ after the 1-0 victory at Stoke City.

Reda Khadra’s goal gave Rovers all three points, his strike coming seven minutes into the second half before Rovers held out for a deserved clean sheet, their second of the week.

They could have had more than the one goal that they managed, Ben Brereton having two good opportunities against his hometown team, the one disappointment for Rovers being a potential abdominal injury to Thomas Kaminski.

Rovers climbed above the Potters into the play-off spots with their third away of the season and Mowbray was pleased with what he saw from his side.

He said: “The Championship is hard to win games back-to-back. I’ve talked long and hard about the mentality of this group and how wonderful they are.

“It’s good to see a lot of young lads in that dressing room happy and bouncing and proud of each other, slapping each other on the back.

“I have told them that they have to keep their feet on the ground, keep going. Every game is difficult and just when you think you’re doing well you get knocked down in this league.

“That’s where we are at the minute, all working hard for each other, all fighting and when the setbacks come, as they undoubtedly will, we have to deal with them and get going again.

“Happy to take the points, move on, no-one is getting carried away, I’ve been top of the league at Christmas at clubs in the past and it’s the second half of the season where it really matters, not the first.”

Rovers’ midfield over-ran that of the Potters and that proved crucial in the victory.

Yet Mowbray felt they could have used the ball better in the first when kicking against the wind.

When the teams turned around for the second half the message was to get shots off where possible, Khadra following instruction to lash home the winner from the edge of the box.

“I felt we could have scored more today, they’re a good side but missing a lot of key footballers at this moment and will come back stronger but I think we deserved to win today,” Mowbray added.

“We were the team that created the best opportunities over the 90 minutes and generally controlled things, even defensively we controlled it I thought.

“I’m pleased with the result which I felt was the right result.

“I had a lot to say at half time because I was quite disappointed about where we were trying to put the ball and trying to hurt them.

“The second half was going to be totally different though, we were playing with the wind and the ball would run away, you couldn’t drill it into the spaces, but what we did say was ‘shoot’, you’ve got the wind in your back and if you get a yard you whack it, shoot low, and Reda did that.

“He’s still learning about the mentality to play for this team yet he has such amazing attributes that we have to give him the opportunities to use that blistering pace and he has a rocket in his right foot.

“He did the job for us today and we’re delighted that he did.”