Tony Mowbray says he must protect Ben Brereton after only naming Rovers’ top scorer among the subs for the defeat at Swansea City.

Brereton was back at the club on Thursday but trained only once after his exertions with Chile, playing twice for La Roja, including 3,600 metres above sea level in the win over Bolivia on Tuesday.

Mowbray said that had taken its toll on the 22-year-old who was called for off the bench for the final half an hour as Rovers went in search of a goal.

They failed to score, and have now found the net twice in their previous six games, but Mowbray says Brereton ‘isn’t a robot’ and can’t continue to play as many minutes as he has.

"That was a huge decision from me and we haven't scored a goal so did it backfire? Maybe. If that chance had fallen to Brereton in the first-half then he would have scored, in my opinion,” Mowbray said.

"I have to protect Ben Brereton a little bit. He's not a robot, he can't play after flying halfway around the world and play on Wednesday and then on Saturday. He will break down.

"I don't want to sit here moaning because he injures his hamstring and he misses the next 10 games and we don't score enough goals in those 10 games.

"I'm expecting Ben to score at least 10 goals in the next 16 games and hopefully get us the points to get us to where we want to be."

Rovers will need Brereton to be at his best if they’re to get back to winning ways, with Nottingham Forest next up at Ewood Park on Wednesday before the trip to West Bromwich Alboin on February 14.

Knowing how important he is to the side, Mowbray felt that no chances could be taken, with the two games at altitude for Chile, that ruled him out of matches with Middlesbrough and Luton Town, taking their toll.

Mowbray said: “I spoke to Chile’s sporting director and he said he'd played at altitude twice and he was gasping, struggling on his legs.

“Then he's flown halfway around the world, comes back and trains on the one day which is usually a very light session for our team.”