When does Blackburn Rovers' good start become something more?

Solid, decent, encouraging, positive are all adjectives used to describe how Rovers have fared this season, but when does it become something more substantial?

Rovers have NEVER had this many points at this stage of a Championship season since relegation from the Premier League and we are now 20 games into the campaign, almost halfway.

This isn’t the best squad of players ever assembled by the club in that time but boy are they a likeable bunch, one the fans can get behind and built around a core of homegrown players.

The concern would be that expectation levels rise at an unsustainable rate. But an interesting dynamic could soon become whether we are judging Rovers against what was expected of them at the start of the season or of a side sitting fourth in the table with three months of the campaign played.

For now we must enjoy a side giving everything for the cause and who have chalked up five wins out of the last seven matches. November, once again, has been a profitable month.

Tony Mowbray will continue to play down expectations having learned the hard way last season of speaking so openly about his ambitions and with such a young squad there will undoubtedly be bumps in the road.

Rovers travelled to Stoke City with virtually every available senior professional, but that too must be measured against the context of facing a Potters side who were without up to eight players who would have challenged for a place in the starting line-up.

There will undoubtedly be bumps in the road for a Rovers squad so thin, and inexperienced, but that made what was a textbook away performance so impressive and finally ended their wait for a victory against a top six side.

It won’t take much to finish in the top six this season as many look to cut back amid the financial threat of breaching Profit & Sustainability rules, but while the top two spots feel almost as good as done the four behind them are an open invitation for anyone wanting to put together a run of form over a sustained period.

Rovers are doing just that, the Fulham humiliation sandwiched inbetween a haul of 16 points from the last 21 available underpinned by a determination that is defying their years, the 11 players that finished having an average age of only 22.6.

The starting XI included five Academy graduates, one of who put in the performance of a player coming of age.

John Buckley was absolutely outstanding, a midfield masterclass in how to take the ball on the half turn and drive forward but also how to close off space, hassle and harry the opposition into mistakes which eventually led to the Rovers winner.

Singling out an individual in such a team effort would normally seem unfair but on this occasion not mentioning Buckley would simply be an oversight.

He brings the best qualities of midfield partners Lewis Travis and Joe Rothwell and has packaged them together to create a hybrid of the two, a pressing machine aided by the free-flowing, gliding manner in possession.

From the first minute to the very last he was everywhere, part of a Rovers midfield that was simply far too athletic for their counterparts and the engine room to a well-oiled machine that has clicked into overdrive either side of the Fulham defeat.

Ben Brereton has grabbed the headlines this season, understandably and deservedly so with his 16 goals, but a midfield trio of Travis, Rothwell and Buckley have brought balance, poise and drive to the centre of the pitch.

Where Rovers were previously pedestrian they are now penetrative and possessing a unit in the middle of the park that are giving the platform for the team to work from.

Mowbray stuck with the three-man defence for a third game in a row, Jan Paul van Hecke replacing the injured Daniel Ayala while matchwinner Reda Khadra came in for Tyrhys Dolan.

While chances were at a premium in the howling wind and freezing cold of the bet365 Stadium Rovers looked a well-coached, well drilled, organised team.

Mowbray lamented the number of times they failed to make their forward passes stick, but they were undoubtedly the better team from the off and almost led in the 12th minute when a lofted Scott Wharton pass freed Brereton who lobbed the ball over the advancing Adam Davies, only to see it drift wide of the post.

That was the best chance in a first half of few opportunities, but no doubt who was in control.

Stoke did threaten after the break, Romaine Sawyers bringing a save out of Thomas Kaminski at his near post, a stop that would cost the Belgian dearly as he limped off the pitch with an abdominal problem soon after.

However, that wasn’t before Rovers scored what proved to be the matchwinner in the 52nd minute, Buckley charging down an attempted clearance before Khadra took aim from distance to arrow a shot out of the reach of Davies.

Aynsley Pears then got his first match action since January as Kaminski’s replacement but those infront of him were doing a fine job of keeping his workload down, and a Darragh Lenihan volley, Tyrhys Dolan curling effort and a Ben Brereton attempt when freed by man-of-the-match Buckley all saw Rovers go close to making things safe.

Four bookings for timewasting, or preventing the re-start of play, allied to Kaminski’s injury, meant seven minutes were added on, but so well had Rovers defended there was never any sense of panic.

Even so they were indebted to a 94th-minute Pears save, as while off-balance when doing so, he tipped a Danny Batth flick around the post.

The final whistle cued celebratory scenes, and deserved recognition for a squad giving their all for the cause and up to fourth in the table. Such a young squad will revel in these moments and so they should.

There was a real sense of pride in the display, underpinned by the demanded work ethic of the manager but no shortage of good play and a tenacious edge.

There will be setbacks, but none likely bigger than a 7-0 home defeat, one they have responded to with 10 points out of a possible 12.

How far can their youthful energy take them? Can they add to what they have to a sufficient level in January? Can they avoid the second half of the season dip?

These are all questions for further down the line but for now we will appreciate what this side have given us so far, and back them to keep producing moving forward.