BLACKBURN Rovers boss Gary Bowyer believes his side are just one big win away from setting their season alight.

Rovers’ hopes of making the play-offs appeared to go up in smoke after they failed to beat basement boys Blackpool on Saturday.

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However Bowyer remains resolute in his belief that there is still time for them to ‘catch fire’ and blaze their way into the promotion picture.

Rovers will go into tonight’s home clash with fifth-placed Norwich City 12 points behind the top six after their 1-1 draw with the Seasiders.

The Ewood Park outfit were booed off after an underwhelming home display that was in complete contrast to the one they produced in knocking Stoke City out of the FA Cup one week earlier.

Bowyer says he understands the fans’ frustrations but he is insists it is not for a lack of effort on the players’ part.

“If we lose games and the players are not competitive enough I will be the first to come down on them,” said Bowyer.

“In fact I wouldn’t need to do that as they would know themselves.

“You can’t tell me on Saturday it was because of a lack of effort and a lack of desire. I think we had over 60 per cent possession and 25 goal attempts.

“They’re having a go, it’s just at this moment in times it’s not dropping for them and sometimes you have to go through periods like that.

“We’re not that far away from giving somebody a right good walloping. Then you would see the confidence flow through the team and then we’d hope to catch fire like we did around this time last season.

“We don’t feel we’re out of this play-off situation at all and until it’s mathematically impossible for us to do that we’re going to fight for everything and we need the supporters to be doing the same for us on that front.”

Tenth-placed Rovers still have to face five of the nine teams above them in the standings – starting with the in-form Canaries.

And Bowyer said: “Twelve points is four games and we’ve got to play the teams above us so that can reduce to three games quite easily. Within a week you could win three games on the trot and be right in it.

“With the schedule we’ve got coming now, we’re still confident in the camp, we have still got the belief we can gatecrash them.”

Tonight’s opponents Norwich have certainly done that.

The Canaries, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, have won six and drawn of the eight matches they played since the arrival of new boss Alex Neil.

That run of form has hauled them into the play-off places and within four points of the top two.

Bowyer, who will be boosted by the return of midfielder Ben Marshall tonight, said: “They’ve got a fantastic squad, a Premiership squad still, and you look at the players they’ve been able to recruit in this window, like Graham Dorrans on loan, and that shows you the standards the club has got.

“It’s going to be a hell of a challenge for us but the bigger challenge at the moment our players are stepping up to the mark.”

Norwich boss Neil, whose side are on a four-game winning run, said: “When Blackburn beat Stoke in the FA Cup that was a result that everybody looked at and thought what a great result it was.

“They’re capable on their day and we’ve got to make sure we limit that as much as we can and we have another good day.”