If our transfer policy is built upon selling our best player in January (and primary goal threat) presumably to a divisional rival (not good enough to attract serious Premier League interest) then we are in trouble. To begin with very few clubs at this level have the means or freedom under FFP rules to pay what we should demand for a player of Dack's importance. Secondly if we were to sell him to bring in reinforcements the damage done to the team through selling him would create more problems than it solved. I'm afraid I don't buy the FFP excuse. Last January we were in good form and on the cusp of the play-offs. We refused to add any depth to a weak defence and paid the penalty, going on an atrocious run of form that almost saw us dragged into a relegation battle. If there was one lesson to take from last season it was that we needed more depth in defence to weather injuries and suspensions. Mowbray appeared to have accepted that in March/April when he spoke to the fans meeting. Then he went and spent £5 million on Gallagher whilst not investing in defensive signings. He failed in the summer by signing Cunningham and Tosin on loan whilst allowing several defenders to go out. We've just about managed through to now despite losing Cunningham for the season although Lenihan, Tosin and Williams have all spent several weeks out with numerous injuries already. With Tosin mysteriously injured again and Williams not great an injury now could derail the entire season. Despite the disappointment of the last couple of games we are still in a good position and perhaps a couple of good additions away from kicking on in the 2nd half of the season, whilst adding nobody and ending up with injuries to defenders could completely derail us again. If January isn't a time to invest and add depth with us on a decent unbeaten run and within a few points of 3rd and 4th then there will never be a good time.

Do we? I'm not sure that is correct when you compare to other sides. The difference is that we have 5 or so u23 players who are also classed as 1st team players. I'm talking Chapman, JRC, Samuel, Butterworth. Take them out the equation and I dont think we have a big squad. We are threadbare in key areas and well stocked in others. Manager to blame for that. Talk of having a squad too big is just a cover story for there being no cash available from the owners.

Yet in his latest interview Mowbray appears unconvinced about the need for January reinforcements. After what happened last season after the January window closed he needs firing if he can't see a need for more depth in defence.

You could copy and paste that for every home game this season and last. When do we ever see a first 45 minutes with urgency and quality? It is two points dropped. I expect you'll be celebrating draws at Huddersfield and Forest and then before we know it the gap to the top 6 will be there again.

Absolute garbage to build on the back of a disappointing yet at least relatively entertaining 'contest' against Wigan. No doubt there will be pats on the back all around about how we're another game unbeaten, how unlucky we've been with injuries and how decent Birmingham are but the reality of the situation is that we've allowed two very attractive fixtures against two mediocre sides to pass us by with 2 out of 6 points to show for it and have allowed the momentum following the Swansea and Bristol week to dissipate. Ah but we are only 'x' points off the top 6 - meaningless data that will continue all season without us ever actually being in the top 6. Now we've two tougher looking games at Huddersfield and Forest to prepare for and I think we can all expect the talk to be about how tough those games are going to be and how well we will do to avoid defeat in them both. Achieve that and it is 4 points from 12. Not good. You can forgive one of these two games to be a disappointment. A come down, a battle against side tough to break down but as far as I am concerned we have allowed two poor sides to come and take points away from Ewood and from our own point of view we haven't done remotely near enough as the home side supposedly aiming for the play-offs to beat these sides. Urgency? Very little. Usual non-event of the first 45 minutes. I don't know what is said pre-match but our performances at Ewood between 10 and 45 minutes are frankly a disgrace and it happens almost every match. The game just passes us by as we aimlessly play the ball around in circles in our own half. We almost got out of jail today - having been atrocious for 55 minutes we are handed an opportunity via the penalty. We get our noses infront. Yet from the second the goal goes in our mentality shifts away from chasing a goal and towards protecting the lead - not good - we sit back, let them start playing and then comes the inevitable basket case suicidal defending which has plagued us so many times. I can't even begin to analyse the team today but once again Mowbray has shown he has no intention nor desire to end his constant chopping and changing. Those hoping or believing that the settled side of a couple of weeks ago are going to be disappointed. This manager loves to make numerous changes even when he doesn't have to. The decision to start Bell once again a poor one. How many chances he is going to get I don't know but each time it is shown to be a poor decision. Buckley starting? No thanks. Extreme disappointment as the same old flaws come to the surface each time.

So there's the evidence. Cheap tickets and an extra 6000 on the home crowd. 'We've done all we can' whilst 12,000 turn up. So good to see the lower BBE full, Riverside quite well populated and JW almost full. Felt almost like a Premier League atmosphere again.

A very disappointing evening. Once again Rovers are presented with a golden opportunity to make serious progress in the table and come up short. A predictable performance - all too common at Ewood - a positive first 5-10 minutes, then 35 minutes of dross, before an improvement but too little too late in the 2nd half. How many times do we witness that. Virtually every game follows the same pattern. Lets not exaggerate what Wigan are. I've seen claims on twitter tonight that they are better than their position suggests and they are hard to beat. They are a poor side, like Luton and Barnsley, yet we appear to have little to no answer to these sides coming to Ewood and being organised and the onus being on us to take the game. To fail even to score against them and in the first hour have 0 or 1 attempt on target is extremely disappointing. Alarming also that in the last 5-10 minutes plus lengthy injury time that only one side looked like winning it and we struggled even to touch the ball. This a Wigan side whose dreadful track record away from home late on in games is there for all to see - regularly conceding and relinquishing points in the last 10 minutes of games yet we failed to create very much at all and were actually close to conceding a couple of times. They appeared to be fitter than us, finishing strongly whilst we seemed knackered and out of ideas. A real shame that we've had a bumper crowd on yet not many of those present will have gone home with much of an impression. In terms of the season - yes we are in a decent position - yes we are still unbeaten - yes we are 'only' a few points off the top 6 - but you have to be capitalising on these sort of fixtures at home against the weaker sides. Our fixtures at home later on in the season are mainly against the better sides.

Normally, at 20-30 quid a ticket, we see maybe 3000 if we are lucky, pushing us from 8500 season ticket holders to about 11500 home fans. Tonight, at 10 quid a ticket and some proper pushing from the club, it looks like we have at least doubled those 3000 to 6000 individual sales, and will probably be looking at 15000 home fans. This despite it being on TV and a night game. I believe if it had been repeated for a non televised game at 3pm on a Saturday or better still Boxing Day the take up would have been higher still. What is better? 3000 paying up to 25-30 quid or 6000 paying 10 quid? From a purely financial perspective the former. Obviously we aren't factoring in longer term benefits - more chance of shifting season tickets to the extra people, more money spent on food, drink, merchandise. More kids enjoying the experience. Better atmosphere for all.

Looking like a good crowd tomorrow on the ticket website. Amazing what can be done with good prices and a good run of form. Just hope we deliver on the pitch.

The sales for Birmingham online dont look much more than usual to me. Perhaps an extra couple of hundred. If you really want thousands more turning up then making a relatively non descript fixture Category A at nearly £30 a time isnt the way to do it.

I worry about this. In theory this should be a win all day long. Wigan are atrocious away from home and have that losing mentality that can see them surrender winning positions late on, even in comical fashion. The evidence is there for all to see with their results. 2 wins since promotion in 2018 and one of those was a complete fluke with 10 men when Leeds bottled it. However, we've seen many a time with Mowbray's Rovers that we struggle against the poorer sides who come and sit deep and our record against the poorer sides isnt great. We inexplicably lost home games v Luton and Charlton and just about got over the line against Barnsley when really you should be getting 7-9 points from those. In fact it is those struggles against the poorer sides that are the reason we aren't sat in 3rd or 4th now. Keep it simple, don't fall behind and there is a great chance to win the game and go into Xmas looking good.

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.

Agree

When was the last time Leeds, West Brom, Burnley etc. had players sent off in such circumstances? I admit the referee was a joke but as ever we gave him an opportunity where others wouldn't.

Can't agree I'm afraid. The manager takes responsibility for the team and players being calm and controlled and dealing with pressure. It comes down to being coached to deal with these eventualities and not letting the occasion get the better of you. Let's look at our old friends Burnley. When was the last time they had someone sent off? It doesn't happen, because they keep calm, collected and focused. We don't. Sheffield United away last season. A team completely unprepared for the pressure of being a man up and then lost control soon afterwards. Some sides keep calm heads, others dont.

Bristol City home results this season: Lost 3-1 v Leeds Won 2-0 v QPR Drew 2-2 v Middlesbrough Drew 0-0 v Swansea Drew 2-2 v Wigan Won 2-1 v Charlton Won 1-0 v Reading Won 5-2 v Huddersfield Drew 0-0 v Forest Lost 2-1 v Millwall So played 10, won 4, drawn 4, lost 2 Swansea, Wigan, Millwall and Middlesbrough have all come back with points, all below us in the table. Let's see if Mowbray can set the team up correctly for a result or if it is headless chicken time.

Millwall won at both Swansea and Bristol since Rowett was appointed.

I think it is true that we could go 3-0 up in the first 15 minutes and the opposition have 9 men for most of the game yet still some people would class a 3-3 draw as a good result away from home. To begin with, without wanting to come across as Mr Negative again, I would have shook hands on a point had that been offered to me at 7:30pm. And I don't think a point was a bad result in the end given our performance late on in the game. Mowbray will be delighted with a draw. It was a game we were getting well beaten in last season so I suppose that points to some progress, and I said after the Derby win I'd be very satisfied to get through these two away games unbeaten and get back to Ewood for the next couple of decent looking fixtures. Now to the game itself. Same old traits of our side away from home rear their ugly head again. Bright positive start and rewarded with a goal early doors. We've seen that happen quite a lot over the last couple of seasons where we are quick out of the blocks and catch teams out early. From that point on you hope/expect to see a well drilled outfit manage the game, keep pressure down, deal with pressure well when it builds. I watched some of the Millwall game at Bristol last night and that is what they did well after going ahead early. Alas we failed to do that, we were wasteful with the ball, made too many poor passes, and allowed them to respond. Their spell of pressure prior to their goal was caused by a senseless throw in on the half way line. Rather than take the sensible route we attempt a ball across the middle of the pitch to begin our pass around the back routine only it was intercepted and they then won corners which they scored from. Having let them back in so quickly i thought we did ok the remainder of the first half. Whilst we looked fragile when they attacked and gave the ball away countless times when trying to play out from the back we caused them a few problems. Second half starts reasonably well. Then we hit the jackpot when their player loses his rag and gets sent off. Nearly 40 minutes left in the game, home fans on their backs, ideal. Great opportunity to seize control of the game, plenty of time for a winner or at least to take control and bombard their goal in search of a winner. Unfortunately, as with Sheffield United away last year, we completely and utterly failed to take any advantage whatsoever from that. We didn't appear to change our approach in the slightest, we didn't appear to up the tempo, make changes to expose their numerical disadvantage. We just carted on as we were before hoping something would happen. As with Sheffield United away last year we then shortly afterwards commit the cardinal sin of shooting ourselves in the foot and giving the referee the perfect opportunity to even things up and get the home fans back on side and give them a shot in the arm. Criminal. Needless. Stupid. We have a knack of squandering golden opportunities when they are presented to us. A team in control doesn't do that. After that I felt we were fortunate to get away with a point, although we could have committed smash and grab in the last minute, we didn't deserve to win the game. Their keeper has had barely anything to do in the 2nd half. The substitutions seemed to make us weaker and we completely lost our way, resorting to sitting back hoping to see the game out for a point. So all in all, not a bad result, but not exactly one to strike fear through the division. Swansea away is not Mission:Impossible as the likes of Millwall have shown recently and when presented with opportunities like we have had tonight you simply have to take full advantage of them if you are going to be up there come the end of the season.

This 'no pay on the day' scheme seems to be more common and is just another example of putting obstacles in the way of people attending games. I can understand it where it is close to a sell out, a risk of trouble or of home fans buying in the away end but there's no prospect of that happening away at Swansea or Bristol. Clubs and authorities trying to take away the concept of rocking up at the last minute and make this a game where you must book days in advance.

Millwall showing that going to Bristol and winning is doable. Hope Mowbray has their game on tape. Problem is Bristol will be desperate to ensure they don't lose back to back home games.

Fulham at home on a night like this ideal opponents for a side like Preston out of form and struggling for goals. Fulham will be the WBA of last season. By far the strongest squad around but hampered by an inexperienced manager and porous defence.

Cant be more than 10,000 on Stoke either.

Not so many on watching the pride of Lancashire tonight. About 6000 at a push by my reckoning.

Hang on, I thought we were perennial struggling little Blackburn before Jack Walker came along?

Our ticketing and pricing policies are failing. The evidence is in the deterioration in numbers in the ground, significantly even on what we were getting during the Bowyer era. Every single time Rovers run a ticketing promotion they attach strings to it. Good that they have slashed prices for the Wigan game. But let's get real - 24 hours before Xmas day, Monday night, live on TV - it would be insanity to charge full whack Category A and expect people to come. So we have to offer something better than sitting at home or in the pub in the warmth and use sky rather than rushing home after work, buying a ticket, getting wet/cold. It's a sad reality that a large number, even at 10 quid, will just not bother because the minute they discover it is on Sky the decision is made. Previously strings have been attached by offering cheap bundles tying people into multiple games including midweeks. Should have made the Birmingham game the promotion and pushed it. Would have had a big gate on and a good day out but at Category A prices probably not.