There was an air of expectation when Rovers hosted Barnsley in midweek – something Tony Mowbray hopes is down to fans being excited by this young side.
Over 14,000 fans watched the Barnsley win as numbers inside Ewood Park and on the road start to grow as excitement builds around Rovers.
They can go into the automatic promotion spots with a positive result against Huddersfield Town this afternoon as they aim to extend their winning run which currently stands at six games.
Although an extra expectancy can bring its own challenges, Mowbray felt the supporters were crucial in seeing the team over the line against Barnsley.
He said of the expectancy: “The players can feel that. You are in the stadium and you can feel it, it’s there.
“You look behind the goal and it’s chock-a-block, the same in the stand behind me.
“I feel as though the fans are getting excited by a young team.
“Some have always been here when it was 8,000 and it was a pretty nothing game and we weren’t having lots of efforts at goal.
“I hope they feel the team is worth supporting, that it’s worth coming to the games and getting excited about being a Blackburn Rovers fan and if we can get more supporters to do that it will only help.
“Yet sometimes we might let them down with an insipid performance.”
Mowbray has always demanded hard work of his team and has rarely found his players short of that expectation.
They have already matched their nine wins of last season, after five successive victories, which followed the club record home defeat to Fulham at the start of November.
At that point Mowbray told supporters to stick with the team and hopes that increased numbers since have been down to them being excited by what they are seeing.
He added: “I said after the Fulham game, support your team. I grew up as a Boro fan and win, lose, or draw I would get on that 263 (bus) from Redcar to Middlesbrough with a scarf around my neck and my wrist and go and support my team.
“As a manager I feel sometimes as though I shouldn’t tell people what to do and they will come if they like the team and support the club.
“They come because football excites them and they want to see their team fighting and working hard and I hope they understand you can’t win every game and sometimes it goes wrong.
“This team are working hard and getting their rewards, the fans helped get us over the line in a game where previously we might have drawn previously.
“Hopefully that continues on Sunday in a game with another big crowd and another good performance.”
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