Tony Mowbray wants Rovers to keep believing they can challenge for a top six spot in the final third of the Championship season.

Rovers could be eight points off the final play-off place by kick off at Reading tomorrow night after back-to-back defeats.

But with 15 games remaining, the Rovers boss doesn’t want to see his side lower their intensity levels.

Mowbray guided his side to four successive wins in January, before defeats to Brentford and Bristol City, but the boss hopes another run can keep his side in the top six mix.

“We have to keep believing. If we can go away from home and get a result then we have a home game on the back of that,” the Rovers chief said.

“Win that and we might be able to touch the top six again.

“You have to win football matches, it’s frustrating to lose a game and in such a tight league and drop like a stone, but the reality is that you win the next game and you’re right back there again because it’s so tight in the middle.

“There are lots of games to go so let’s keep going, keep believing, be positive, and not lose confidence in what we’re trying to do.

“We should look forward going in to every game because of the opposition we’re playing and they are all big challenges for us.

“They are all opportunities and that’s how we have to approach the game.

“We’ll go to Reading, be prepared, and try and pick a team that can cause them problems, but be mindful we have another game just after that and another chance to get three points at home.

“Let’s just keep the team rolling along and playing with the intensity we do and see where it takes us.”

Rovers drew 10 of their opening 22 league fixtures, but their next nine games have brought four wins and five defeats. Their league position fluctuate from as high as ninth, to as low as 14th, one place above where they find themselves ahead of the Madejski Stadium trip.

Bristol City made it six league wins in a row with victory at Ewood on Saturday, but Mowbray thinks maintaining consistency in such a tight division is difficult.

He added: “That’s the nature of the league. Everyone is finding that, even Leeds and Norwich at the top of the table, you can have days where they can lose matches.

“West Brom and Middlesbrough have found the same. We beat West Brom and Leeds, anyone can beat anyone and you have to do well to go on a run like we did in January.

“Bristol City have taken it on to eight wins (in all competitions) now which is huge, but I think they could easily go and lose two or three on the bounce.

“We could have easily won 1-0 on Saturday, rather than losing 1-0.

“We’re a competitive team in this division, we can, and will, win games, how many, let’s wait and see. But we can also lose games as we’ve found against some of the better teams, and a few disappointing days that we’ve had along the way.

“For us, this year was about consolidating and see how far we could take it, making sure we aren’t a team who gets promoted and then is hanging on for grim life to try and stay in the league.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Corry Evans will travel with the team to Berkshire having missed the weekend’s defeat through injury.