ROVERS boss Tony Mowbray believes there is reason to be optimistic going in to next season after his side has put together back-to-back wins against Derby and Nottingham Forest.

Mowbray's side won 2-1 in Nottingham on Saturday thanks to goals from Joe Rothwell and Danny Graham.

The Rovers boss is excited to see what his now fully-fit side can do in the remaining four games of this season.

"We’ve come in to this league and thought ‘let’s have a go, let’s be really competitive’ and for 20 games we were right there really," said Mowbray.

"The end of January we’d just won four on the bounce and we were two points off sixth.

"We went to Brentford and were 2-0 up, but we ended up losing 5-2, we had four players come off injured that day with Lenihan being one of them.

"That ended up being eight weeks out. Graham and Dack came off that day – the team disintegrated that day.

"We’ve struggled to find the winning formula on the back of them injuries.

"Now everyone’s just about fit, we look solid again, we’re winning football matches and we’re looking forward to next year.

"What we have to do if the injuries come again next year is have players chomping at the bit behind and not just have young players coming in."

Danny Graham scored the winner at the City Ground - a goal which happened to be the 150th in his career. Mowbray highlighted the importance of the striker.

"I think he’s on 15 goals right now, him and Bradley are very competitive. I think Bradley’s on 16 and he’s got 15," he said.

"They’re great pals off the pitch and they’re competing to see who finishes top scorer this year.

"Graham’s been the talisman for us this year, I would have to say. He’s someone who’s 33, he’s really understood – he didn’t play at the start of the League One campaign because he wasn’t running around enough, he wasn’t fit enough.

"He was just relying on his body strength. What’s great for me is that he’s taken all of that on board and he’s as fit as he’s ever been.

"He works really hard – this was his third game this week. He manages our dressing room for us, along with some other senior players like Bennett and Mulgrew.

"I'm delighted with Danny, delighted he’s taken on board the work ethic this team requires."

The boss thinks his side can reach the target of 60 points, and is looking forward to the four remaining games.

"Just to finish as strong as we can. In house we’ve always talked about having a minimum of 60 points and we’re on 53, can we get seven more points from four games? We can, I think," added Mowbray.

"It’s a big ask of course, but we’ve got two home games with Bolton and Swansea. We’re away at QPR and a great test for us to go to Norwich.

"I’m looking forward to the last four games, I’ve just told the group in there that we’ll blood in some young players from now on.

"We’ve got some very talented under 23s at our club and we’ll be giving them some opportunities."