At the risk of upsetting any purists a couple of incidents pleased me yesterday and allayed some fears for me personally. The first was when Gallagher was assaulted by the Bristol player and a couple of were confrontational to him as he was on the ground. Several Rovers players sprinted over and stood up for their teammate. The other was at half time when there was clearly an incident in the tunnel. Again several players sprinted down the tunnel to support whoever was involved. When I hear the words 'team spirit' that type of incident encompasses it.

You tell ‘em Dunny

Ultimately the manager, who many, including myself, questioned some of his decisions, has shown that an experienced football man does indeed know what he is doing and has a long term plan which seems to be heading in the right direction. Hopefully, a top half finish this season will provide a platform for a promotion push - although if we continue like this the play-offs may well be within reach this campaign. Mowbray, despite my own doubts a few weeks ago, is showing that he is exactly the right man to take the team forward and has had the strength of character to come through a difficult period and still retained the full support of the players and, if anything, improved the spirit within the camp. In adversity the manager has stood up to the pressure and the players seem to have an excellent relationship with him. That bond between manager and players is vital for any club to make progress. Let's just enjoy the moment Stuart.

If TM got us to the Premier League in the next couple of years then he would fully deserve the opportunity to build a team for that level. He has another two seasons on his contract to achieve that. I would agree that the likes of Brereton and Chapman have been very disappointing signings but I still believe he should be given money in January and next summer to continue the building of the squad.

What a great week! All the travelling over the past few days has been more than worthwhile. Yesterday I thought we were as good as we've been for a long while. I think the manager proved yesterday that you can chop and change the players if you have the right game plan - and we have had that in recent weeks. As arbitro said, we seem to be mixing the passing style that Mowbray wants with a more direct and combative style when needed. Leaving Johnson out seems to have done him a world of good. It now looks slimmer and far more mobile - the sort of player I thought we had signed in the first place. The spirit within the camp looks excellent - what a brilliant job Mowbray has done in that regard.

Today was, in my view the classic away performance. We were intense, worked harder than I have seen in years, quietened the crowd and took our chances. There were lots of really good performances but the pick for me was Travis. I felt it was his best performance for us as he tackled, chased, closed down and kept things ticking over when he got the ball. Well done to Mowbray also. Our upturn in form is largely down to team selection, tactics and substitutions which have by and large been good recently. After travelling nearly 1000 miles this week the fans who went can have no complaints after four points gained from two tough away matches.

Excellent piece by Jim who captured the period and Jim Smith brilliantly. They were happy days following Smith's team. He delivered an exciting brand of football with a mixture of youth and experience and was probably just a centre-forward short of achieving a return to the top flight.

He lacks a brain.

The run we have been on but the last week in particular is what we are all about as a club. Working hard, tackling, doing it for the club, great team ethic and many other things for which we are renowned. Significantly for me Mowbray seems to have ditched his new world passing game and gone back to the values we love. In the early part of the season I saw confusion from the players as to what way they should be playing. Of course we can pass it when it's on but we now seem to be seeing a mix of styles which is proving effective. My message to Mowbray would be don't over complicate things and play to our strengths with the players we have.

Thought Sam was immense yesterday. Ran himself into the ground and a big part in our victory by hurrying Bristol into repeated mistakes. Starting to look like an astute acquisition.

Just watched the Rhodes hattrick- doubt you will see a better trio of goals all season.

Can't stand that man. Has the audacity to call out players for not putting a shift in when he stole a wage from us.

“The gaffer came up with the routine. We worked on it in training yesterday after being shown their weaknesses at set plays.” Quote from Johnson

Absolutely delighted after that a complete away performance. I was surprised to say the least when I heard the line up but those players who have been out the team played with a real hunger to take their opportunity and to stake a claim for their place in the team giving the manager plenty of headaches for his next selection. Walton 7- Not over worked but dealt well with crosses and made what looked like a good save from a deflected effort in the first half. Nyambe 8- Continued his fantastic form, he's always been very solid defensively but he is now growing in confidence going forward a couple times today in the first half he flew past the Bristol full back. Tosin 8- After a dodgy game mid week he was back on form today. Lenihan 8- Immense, won every header and made a great block in the first half as I think the shot was going in. Bell 8- After quite rightly being dropped he looked like a different player to the one we have had for the last 2 years. A danger going forward including a good run to win the corner for the first goal. But it was his defensive worked that really impressed me he played with a fire in his belly, getting stuck in closing his man down and blocking crosses. Without a doubt his best performance in a Rovers shirt and by some distance. Travis 7- Full of energy and along with Johnson dominated the midfield. Johnson 9- Best player on the pitch, bossed the game quite literally from the first minute until the last, used his presence to physically dominate their midfield. Holtby 8.5- Showed real class today when in possession they couldn't get near him and had to resort to just fouling him. But he also showed plenty of hard work when out of possession. Bennett 7- Is much better suited to playing further forward, where his positional play isn't as important. Also he can hassle his opponent but when he overs commits which he does do he has plenty of protection behind him. Brereton 5- Absolutely shot of confidence a couple times he got into decent areas but seemed clueless as to what to do. One plus point was that early on he went shoulder to shoulder with Ashley Williams with Williams ending up on the floor. Not a lot to get excited about I know but I am afraid is small pickings as far as he is concerned. Gallagher 8- Worked tirelessly from start to finish, superb in the air and really deserved a goal for his performance which I thought he had when his volley produced a very good save from the keeper. Armstrong 8- The perfect sub to bring on today with his pace and as well as his goal he also caused them plenty of other problems Rothwell- Not on for long but was very neat and tidy in possession. Also today the behaviour from their goal keeper to try and get Sam Gallagher sent off was one of the most embarrassing things that I have ever seen on a football pitch, it was absolutely pathetic. Although he is probably just reflecting the behaviour of his repulsive, squeaky little manager.

I like 4-4-2, It's a good shape that puts players in the right areas of the pitch and it gives you a nice balance between attack and defence. But as with any system it has to suit the abilities of the players. Forget the back 4 but when we had Ferguson, Clayton, Douglas, Harrison in midfield with McEvoy and Pickering up front it was 4-4-2 off the ball and 4-2-4 on the ball. Footballing perfection. A goal scoring machine.

Rovers paid City £1m for the season long loan of Tosin. There is no recall clause apparently so they would have to pay serious compensation to negotiate a recall.

As regards, TM, I am stuffing my face with humble pie. Indeed, there was no dish that I could have wanted more.

Lady Luck!!? ??? Give it up mate. You’re right in some respects. The changes have helped. Those changes were by the manager. BUT yesterday’s team and consequent performance proved that there’s much more to winning than simply removing players who you wanted out. Then again, we have a manager who’s been in the game 40yrs along with a team of professionals so it makes sense that we all accept they know more than any of us.

An excellent days work and result to build on the solid point at Swansea and put us into a good position heading into the hectic Xmas period. I hope we use the next week to recover, refresh and get ready to hit the 4 games with confidence. Without wanting to get carried away the way we have been playing recently gives me confidence against anyone, and having done such a good job yesterday at nullifying Bristol none of these games fill me with trepidation. If we can maintain our efforts of recent weeks there are plenty of points to be won. What we don't want is complacency. Wigan first up will be coming to battle and Cook will have them cheating and using all sorts of tricks to try and stop their losing run away from home. We will be expected to win the game and these tend to be the ones we struggle in. Yes Bristol had a few decent chances, particularly in the first half, but not many sides will go there and keep a clean sheet. We restricted them to one attempt on target. I expected a long, painful second half with us clinging on to our lead and eventually conceding, but I was very impressed with how we managed to neuter Bristol to ensure they had very little by way of attempts and couldn't get any momentum going. All the more pleasing given it was done with several players we would consider to be 'second string' e.g. Johnson, Holtby, Brereton and Gallagher - people who haven't been starting games during this good run whilst the big players in that good run - Dack, Graham, Evans, Armstrong - missing or rested. Table is still too tight to draw any conclusions from at this stage - a couple of wins and it could be 3rd or a bad week and bottom half. Just about continuing to pick up wins and get through to February in the right area. Even more sweet to see Lee 'Poison Dwarf' Johnson losing his rag, you know we've done a job on him and his team when the cocky facade slips and the nasty side shines through. Whatever has changed behind the scenes long may it continue. Mowbray has stopped a slide and turned the season around in the space of a month. Probably where his experience comes in as a younger manager might have crumbled when it wasn't working.

Paul Cook on quest. "We dont lack character or fitness, we lack naivity" ?

With 6 of the top 7 playing each other next week, and Preston away to Cardiff, we could well be in the playoffs IF we win against Wigan. Not counting our chickens though, as it's the typical game where we slip up. Our thoughts on whether we prefer West Brom and Leeds to beat Fulham and Brentford as playoffs are our best hope, or vice versa in the faint hope of automatic promotion?

Maybe set up a crowd funding page to get him over for a game. Just a thought.

Think we all deserve a drink after that week - chuffed to the heavens! Cracking performance, life after Dack might not be half bad... whenever that time comes. Well oiled machine out there, massive credit to Nyambe (Rovers academy), Travis (Rovers academy) and Lenihan (Rovers Academy) for today... shit hot! Thoughts from the Gaffa, the fans and more.

Big dog turning down an Irish international? Surely not

Not to try and distract away from a great win but Lee Johnson is an odious character. He had been yellow carded when he threw the ball at somebody on the Rovers bench and got away with it. He constantly harangues the fourth official and scuttles around likes child who can't get his own way when a decision goes against them. And the referee was the worst we have had this season. In what has generally been a sea of dross he eclipsed his colleagues.

Well fucking done my Rovers!!! I'm still on moon cause we defeated a cery good team amd after a very tight match speacially first half...bristol did a good game but they we were better i know that in this group there are some moaners that would be talkig crap like "we did a horrible match but we were lucky or we doesen't deserve to win" or crqp like thst why? Well cause they doesen't really love this colors...if youbate a true supporter it doesen't matter where you come from it matters to support even on bad times...you could be desagree with a lot of things the gaffer the tsctics the way we are playing the players seleccion etc... but what a true supporter never does is to TALK BAD or SHET about their own colors isn't? Letsstill celebrating but not to much pals cause we are on the most difficult part of the table...to survive in this possition is the task this campaign i guess and I'm sure we will... So surprised about or development i have to say that when i saw Tony idea i was a little nervous but what a way to shut our mouths isn't? I knew Johnson would be vital in this match because of his sacrifice and vecaise is the natural palyer that we have to do the dirty job and to try to retail ball but he did much more than that he scored and he was one of the best players today! Come On You Rovers! We are showig what we are capable to do this season and if we stil playing like that who knows what could happens? Whoever to me showig this level I'm more than glad this is just our second year into this tier again so I'm not hurry inwamt my team stil building the correct background and infrastructure to put my team on 1st toer and stay ther much more than just one season! #ImRoversTillIDie #COYBBR #TheMexicanRover

Pride of place...in the downstairs loo ?

Great stuff. Nice to think he still does little things like that for the fans. This is my own bit of rovers shearer memorabilia:

I contacted Alan Shearer via twitter and he agreed to sign my shirt for me, im over the moon. I’m in Ireland so posted it to the UK with a return envelope and I had it back inside a week. He came across as a really nice guy, even sent me this emoji in a message when I thanked him on twitter for the memories and the goals ?‍♂️ Lol

As a big fan of JR I would not swap him for SG. I have seen enough now of SG to think that going forward he might well turn out to be a decent player for us. He certainly puts a shift in. On BB he did make a few good things happen, a good through pass out left to a Rovers player, Bell? and a very good move and pass to create a very decent chance for Johnson. He lacks a decent first touch, doesn't have the pace I thought he had and very early in the second half chickened out of going for a long ball, he looked where the defender was and opted out of any challenge, Not good! Swap BB for Rhodes? even Wendies are not that thick.

Walton seems to be improving?

I'd take Reed over Bennett in terms of having a versatile player able to slot into multiple positions and play them well. Right now he wouldn't be able to oust Nyambe from RB or Evans/Johnson/Travis from CM - but when Evans purple patch inevitably ends that could easily change, especially with Johnson's form also being patchy to say the least.

Agreed. He was clearly intimidated by the crowd and was giving nonsensical fouls against Rovers (at one point, any ball won by Lenihan was getting penalised) and allowing all kinds of subterfuge by Bristol City to go unpunished. For the foul count to be 16 each when Bristol turned into one of the dirtiest sides we have faced says it all. The yellow card for Gallagher was for a nothing tap when there were at least five yellow card challenges by Bristol City players. It also seems everybody except the officials saw an elbow smash by Lee Johnson on a Rovers coach then threw the ball after the half time whistle yet Johnson wasn't cautioned again for either incident.

How many flops has Mowbray actually signed? Caddis Gladwin Maybe Bell up until he rolled his sleeves up and played a blinder yesterday. Chapman I really dunno about, he was class when here first time around but God knows what's going on with him now. I get people will say Brereton but until he plays regularly as a striker it's unfair. Apart from that he hasn't done too bad has he?

Not many teams win things without a bit of luck at the right time. I always had Mowbray down as an unlucky manager, maybe things have changed.

In that particular incident Gallagher was wiped out by one of their centre halves and the referee chose to play advantage. Ordinarily I applaud that but Brereton was on his own with four Bristol players. Once the advantage didn't accrue the referee should have gone back and given the free kick for the challenge on Gallagher and cautioned the perpetrator. He did neither. Later in the game he brought play back for Bristol in similar circumstances. On his general display I thought he should have cautioned five Bristol players but knows if one. Lenihan was punished a few times for challenges when I felt is was two big blokes competing fairly for headers. He allowed their manager to throw a ball at one of our substitutes after he yellow carded him for an earlier infringement. I thought it was the worst refereeing performance we have seen this season.

Stuff like that actually means something. Selfies out on the beer don't. I've called us out in the past for being a soft touch, lets hope the new steely Rovers continues.

One thing I will say is that I never heard even the faintest whisper of Mowbray losing the dressing room. Yes he acted decisively shipping out Charlie Mulgrew, but even after the Prestojn game when I was convinced he should go, the players were solidly with him. That doesn't detract from the reality of being ten points worse off than we should be had Mowbray not got things so horribly wrong against Charlton, Luton, QPR and Preston. We can get away with horrible long runs in the Championship but we ain't going up and certainly not staying up with these sorts of prolonged patches of defeats.

This is great reading. Love to see it! https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18102454.rovers-become-horrible-play-winning-run/

As much as I rate and appreciate Jordan for what he did for us the bit in bold is the correct statement.

I also predicted a 0-2 result pal, something big occurred today in relation to our season as a whole. I’d love to see a 90 minute recording of the game. Having watched West Brom struggle against big clubs bullying initially today I’d suggest we can beat anyone in the division. That includes Leeds who we will smash again at home. Great post pal, great to hear from overseas fans who’s posts I would rather read than some in this country who probably have never been to Ewood. Don’t take any criticism to heart. Oh yeah, Ay Caramba......I think

Just got back from the game, great result and performance from everyone. I can’t fault anyone, but special mentions to Bell, Johnson and Nyambe. I thought Walton was also superb when called upon. I feel bad for Brereton, I really want him to be a success but he seems so short on confidence. He was in at one point and just needed to swing a left foot at it but seemed reluctant and ended up stalling and losing it. Just needs to play with out fear. Played a cracking pass to Johnson who then had his shot saved.

This is the thing. brentford fans are delighted with his commanding of the box - as his performance against us showed. I do agree that Walton has a better defence but I am firmly in the camp that Raya is the better keeper. Put Raya with our defence instead of last seasons and he would still be here.

Fantastic result cheered me up no end after a depressing week. Shame the Tory voters down the road won though Looking forward immensely to the Wigan game let’s hope we can keep this run going

This time last year they were 6 points clear of 3rd, this season they're 10 points clear. There's no Sheffield Utd on their heels this year. As much as I'd love to believe they'll collapse and lose out again, I really don't see it this time. With that said they were 3-0 up against Cardiff today and conspired to draw 3-3, so who knows.

IMO, They have a team meeting between Mowbray and the players where they discuss and clear the air.

Brereton's not quite the right shape to be a football, needs the Dunny diet for that.

Eating a lovely slice of humble pie tonight. We were great today - first to most balls, bossing the possession, threatening on the break. Everything we want to see from a Rovers side. Excellent 3 points.

" Benno put a shit in " ! Where abouts on the pitch was that ?

The fact we're nominating Corry Evan's for this just because he's been here the longest shows what a horrible decade it has been. You can count on two hands the amount of good games he has had during his time here, and half of those have been in the past two weeks. For me, I'm going to say Bradley Dack. He grabbed the club by the scruff of the neck a couple of years ago (along with supporting roles from one or two others) when somebody needed to and we were languishing in the third tier, remember he didn't become a regular starter until October that year, and our form improved dramatically when he became the main man. He has also continued that form at a higher level for 18 months now, a really good footballer and one we should enjoy while we can. Other nominations should be - Jordan Rhodes, 85 goals in three and a half years is some going considering he had 7 managerial changes to contend with in that time. David Dunn, two big goals against the dingles put him here automatically, but he was still a very good player for us for the first few years of the decade. Craig Conway, the model pro, , dependable in a few positions, always gave his best and chipped in with some important goals and assists in his 5 years here. Crucial part of our team that hit the dizzy heights of our best placed finishes of 8th & 9th since relegation. Other names that could possibly be considered include, Ryan Nelson, Grant Hanley, Tom Cairney, Rudy Gestede, Danny Graham & Charlie Mulgrew.