WHEN Gary Bowyer casts his mind back over Blackburn Rovers’ Championship campaign he has no doubt over the period that left his side playing catch-up in their attempts to make the play-offs.

Rovers, on the back of a nine-match unbeaten run, were sixth at the start of December, two points above eventual runners-up Watford, two points behind eventual champions Bournemouth, and four points behind then-leaders Derby County.

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But fast forward to the end of January, and just eight points later, and they were ninth, eight points behind then sixth-placed Watford and 15 points behind Bournemouth and Derby at the summit.

Rovers, after an indifferent February, did improve. They got over the heartache of losing their FA Cup quarter-final replay to Liverpool to finish the league season unbeaten in seven games.

But ultimately they had left themselves with too much to do and they finished ninth, 11 points off the play-off positions, and one place and three points worse off than they did in Bowyer’s first full season in the Ewood Park hotseat. That disappointed the Rovers boss.

With a Financial Fair Play embargo to contend with in the second half of the campaign, he always knew it was going to be difficult to compete with teams who had already significantly strengthened their squads in the summer. But he accepts that Rovers should have accrued more than 67 points.

Letting leads slip was a major factor. They, however, only became more of an unwanted occurrence after hopes of a top-six spot were effectively ended by a double home defeat to Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion in March.

Instead what Bowyer rues most was Rovers’ form before and after Christmas when there was also the added distraction of a rejected Crystal Palace bid for top-scorer Rudy Gestede.

“We have an honest bunch, a group of lads who work hard to get better and improve, and I cannot give them enough praise for how they conducted themselves after the Liverpool defeat,” said Bowyer, who was handed the managerial reins on a full-time basis two years ago this month.

“People were saying, ‘that is your season over’, which we did not buy into or believe, and the lads showed that and showed how much they care for the club. Seven games unbeaten, two defeats in 13, there have been some positives in the finish to the season. But it has been frustrating.

“Most of the teams who finished above all went about strengthening their squads in the summer and in the January window. Unfortunately for us, because of this embargo, we have not been able to be as competitive as we would have liked. We are still competitive but you always have to keep moving on, and keep improving your squad, and there were times when we needed to bring more than one fresh face in, and we were not able to.

“But it was December and January that was the most frustrating time. We picked up four points in December and four points in January so that was the time when we lost ground. You cannot afford to go on runs like that, and Derby, who were top and then finished one place above us, are an example of that in the run-in. In December I thought we played some great football at times. Bolton away, for example, we were exceptional. But we did not get the results.

“Then there was also the distraction of the window. There was Rudy, of course, but there were Jordan Rhodes, Ben Marshall and Grant Hanley, too. They all got linked with moves away. You cannot measure the impact of that and at the end of the day they are human beings. But that is something we have to deal with better next season.

“We also need to deal better if we go on another run like that. I hope we will not have to but if we do we will know how we deal with it.

“We will be better for the experiences of this season, we all will. To get better you have to go through experiences. It is the same with everybody, myself included. People have made mistakes, of course we have, it is human nature, but as long as you learn from them and improve, that is the main thing.

“We kept this club up in our first season and then nobody could have anticipated what we would do last season to finish just two points off the play-offs. People expected more and rightly so. So the frustration from ourselves and the players is the same as the supporters. We felt this season we could have pushed and tried to get higher than where we have ended up finishing.”

But while that frustration remains, Bowyer has now turned his thoughts to what he believes will be a big summer for the club.

“First and foremost we have got to try to keep as many of the players as we possibly can,” said the 43-year-old, who will soon fly out to India for a meeting with Rovers’ Pune-based owners Venky’s.

“The owners have shown they are not just going to sell, even though we are under an embargo, and with the restrictions we are under we have also got to try to find the right type of player to bring in.

“It is no secret we need pace in the team. When Josh King was missing we did not have the blistering pace that, if you look at certain other teams, they have got in them. So that is something we are on and we are also after one or two experienced heads who can handle game situations better for us out on the pitch.

“We have got a young group but if you look at some of their CVs, in terms of their age and the number of league games they have got, they are experienced Championship players now. That said you still need one or two older lads who have been around the clock, seen it and done it, and who can make sure we see games out when we are in a lead.”

Bowyer is no longer a rookie senior boss himself.

Behind Rotherham United’s Steve Evans, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe and Ipswich Town’s Mick McCarthy, he is the fourth longest-serving manager in the Championship.

“It’s a privilege to be a manager of this football club,” said Bowyer, who was previously in charge of Rovers’ U18s and reserves sides.

“I’ve been here 10 years and I really want us to get back where everybody dreams of getting and that’s the Premiership. For me personally it would be an outstanding honour to do that.

“It was a fantastic experience going to Anfield and facing Liverpool and pitting ourselves against Swansea and Stoke along the way in the cup run. We want to be doing that week in and week out but it’s going to take a lot of hard work to achieve that.

“And that’s what we’ll be putting in when we return to pre-season training on June 30.”