BLACKBURN Rovers boss Gary Bowyer has called on his side to produce another strong end to the campaign.

Rovers finished last season two points outside of the play-offs after winning six and drawing six of their final 12 matches.

They will be unable to replicate or better that unbeaten sequence this season after they went down 3-2 to Brentford on Tuesday night.

That largely self-inflicted defeat was Rovers’ first in four games in the Championship and ended their three-match winning run in the league.

It also left them 11 points behind the top six going into their final eight games of the campaign, the first of which comes today at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Rovers are two points and two places better off than they were at this stage of the 2013-14 season.

But as Bowyer acknowledges the gap to the play-offs was shorter then – eight points – than it is at the moment.

He maintains, however, that it would be wrong to write Rovers off just yet.

“A lot of people would think that but the players came in on Thursday morning, were very honest in their feedback, and were very positive as well,” said Bowyer, who is looking forward to the international break that follows this afternoon’s match.

“We are two points better off now than we were last season although I know the gap is different.

“But you saw how strongly we finished last season and the players can take a hell of a lot of confidence from that. We know that we’re capable of going on another run.

“Saturday will be our 13th game in 43 days and we want to try and finish it on a high, make it four wins out of five, and then have a nice break, both physically and mentally, which the players have earned and deserved.

“Then we can get ready to finish as strongly as we possibly can.

“But firstly everybody is focusing and gearing up to put in a right good effort on Saturday.”

Bowyer will once more be down to the bare bones today with at least seven first-team players on the sidelines.

“You’ve got to be sensible,” said Bowyer, who is hopeful Markus Olsson will return after missing the home loss to Brentford and the 3-1 victory at Charlton Athletic with a tight hamstring.

“We returned to training on Thursday and the ones who have played all the games had a very, very light session and the ones who have been the subs and on the fringes did a top-up session.

“It was nothing more than that. In fact it was nearly a non-tackling game!

“We hope to have one back for the weekend and whoever puts on the shirt will give it a right good go like we did the other night.”

Bowyer has watched the Brentford match back again.

And he said: “We gifted them their goals to be perfectly honest.

“That’s something that has been with us throughout the season but we seemed to have got rid of it leading into that game.”