Tony Mowbray feels the biggest improvement for Rovers this season has been in their defensive stability which has been aided by availability.

Rovers went into last season with four senior centre halves but saw Daniel Ayala and Scott Wharton manage a combined 13 starts during injury-disrupted campaigns, while Derrick Williams reached double figures before leaving in March to join LA Galaxy.

Darragh Lenihan was a mainstay of the side last season, missing only five matches, with Rovers’ options in the second half of the campaign were both loanees signed in January, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jarrad Branthwaite.

Although Wharton and Brighton loanee Jan Paul van Hecke started this season injured and Ayala is currently sidelined with a calf injury, bar a two-game run prior to the October international break, Mowbray has regularly had three of his main central defensive options available.

They have rewarded him with 14 clean sheets, the joint-most in the division, including 11 in their last 16 matches.

While there has been a sea change in Rovers’ style from last season, moving away from a possession-based approach, Mowbray says the defensive stability has been the biggest difference.

That has enabled them to make the most of their three goals scored in 2022, all coming in 1-0 wins, the latest against QPR.

Rovers matched last season’s points tally of 57 with still 12 games to go, leaving Mowbray to point out the stability at the back as key to that.

“Last year I felt we had a lot of quality and wanted to play with the ball. We moved it and kept possession, but we finished 15th,” Mowbray said.

“I’ve talked a lot about the problems we had last year in central defence, it was a major issue for us.

“This year there has been stability in central defence and the results have been much better, playing a totally different way.

“I do think it’s a really important position for any team, no matter how good with the ball you are, if you can’t keep clean sheets you aren’t going to win many matches.

“That’s been a bit of a difference in stability in our backline, whereas we never did last year.

“What’s the better football? Well, you can either like a team who are dominating the ball and tries to knock down the door of the opposition to score, or one who is happy to let the opposition have the ball but keep scoring on transition.

“It doesn’t really matter to me but I’m trying to work with the group I’ve got.

“In an ideal world you have the best players and you dominate the ball.

“We aren’t in that position, we aren’t that team, so we’re trying to find a way to compete.”