Tony Mowbray believes only hard work from those inside the club can turn around a run of four consecutive defeats and stop any ‘outside noise’.

Rovers looked to be in play-off contention after a run of four wins last month which saw Mowbray named the Championship’s January manager of the month.

But four straight defeats have followed and Rovers will aim to halt their poor run at Birmingham tomorrow.

Mowbray has tried to stay level-headed during the ups and downs of Rovers’ form in 2019.

He said: “The outside noise, you can’t do anything about, so from my perspective I don’t listen to it.

“But I know that young footballers can listen to it and my job is to make sure they stay focused, believe in each other, and work hard.

“I think football clubs generally find that you have to work internally.

“The only thing that can turn a string of results around is the people that work on the grass everyday.

“They have to mentally stay strong and tough and work hard for each other.”

Despite a tough run of form and defeats to Brentford, Bristol City, Reading and Middlesbrough, Mowbray doesn’t feel Rovers’ performances have dipped too much.

He added: “I feel an internal noise in myself that we’ve lost four games in a row, and for two years we’ve been used to winning games, and plenty of them.

“We’re on a run where we haven’t won for a few weeks yet as I’ve said, the performance level, apart from 45 minutes against Middlesbrough hasn’t been alarming, it’s been okay.

“We’ve lost some tight games, the month earlier there were some tight games that we won. Let’s keep believing in each other, doing what we do.”

Rovers’ results may have been up and down, with four wins and seven defeats from their last 11 league matches, but Mowbray says that isn’t showing in the mood in the camp.

And he sees tomorrow’s trip to Birmingham as a chance to put it right.

“The difference isn’t as stark as you might think,” he said.

“Human nature is when you win you’re happy because all the work you have put in during the week has paid dividends, then you put that in the drawer and move on to the next week.

“If you lose, you have to try and have the same mentality. You’re allowed to be disappointed for a short period of time, but you have to get back to work and I think that’s happening.

“No-one likes losing games. At this moment we’ve lost too many on the bounce but some of the games could easily have gone the other way. It’s not as if we’re losing every game comfortably.

“You put the game behind you, study it, look back at it and move on to the next game.

“I don’t think anyone throws a big dark cloud over your building.

“You’re allowed to be disappointed at the start of the week but then you have to put it behind you, get back to work and that’s what we’re doing. There’s another game, and you have to get a result.”