The tests keep coming for the Rovers defence who will face a Birmingham City frontline tomorrow which has shared 29 Championship goals this season.

Tony Mowbray wants his side to find some resilience on the road having shipped 33 goals in 16 away matches.

Last week Middlesbrough sprung a surprise on a Rovers backline without mainstay Darragh Lenihan by going with a front two of Britt Assombalonga and Ashley Fletcher.

The duo combined for Boro’s winner last weekend, with the challenge this week a Blues side with Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz keen to pile on more misery.

Mowbray is hoping for a repeat of the 2-0 win at Millwall last month, their only clean sheet in their previous 10 away fixtures.

“Birmingham is another game we know we will be playing against a very organised, hardworking, physical side, and if we’re not defensive structured enough to deal with the directness, then we’ll probably get beat,” Mowbray said.

“We have to defend well, keep clean sheets, away from home particularly, and see if we can nick a goal, as we did at Millwall. We nicked a goal, scored a second goal and won 2-0.

“At home I think we should be more adventurous, playing on the front foot, as we do.

“For two years it’s been pretty successful. This is the first time we’ve lost four on the bounce and it’s a test. This league is testing the players more than last year’s league.

“Sunday we played against two centre forwards, one cost £15m, the other £7m, with total respect to League One there are none of those players about. It’s asking questions and we have to find the answers.”

Rovers will be without the injured Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams, who is suspended for the trip to the Midlands.

Adams scored Birmingham’s equaliser in the 2-2 draw at Ewood in December, as Rovers conceded twice in three minutes late on to throw away a two-goal lead.

The striker, who has courted Premier League interest of late, has 19 goals to his name, including eight in his last eight, while partner in crime, 10-goal Jutkiewicz, is a player Mowbray knows well.

The boss added: “They have two strikers that are real handfuls.

“He’s coming up against us, and Jutkiewicz, a player that I signed at Middlesbrough, if he’s not the most physical centre forward then he’s one of them.

“He uses his arms and is brilliant in the air, so there are some big tests for our team that we will have to deal with. For them, they have to worry about Dack, Graham and Armstrong and our threat on the transition.

“I’m sure it’ll be a good game and for us we need to find a result pretty quickly.”