Bradley Dack is an ‘easy target’ for criticism, according to Tony Mowbray, who praised the work ethic of Rovers’ top scorer.

Dack had gone six games without a goal before netting Rovers’ third in the win over Wigan Athletic.

The six game wait, since his strike at Brentford on February 2, was his longest goal drought since signing for Rovers.

He is now up to 15 for the season in all competitions, but during Rovers’ winless run, his contribution had been criticised by some supporters.

But Mowbray said: “Bradley’s had an amazing two years. When he falls below the standards he has set himself then he becomes an easy target to criticise, I think.

“People say to me, 'Dack looked this, Dack looked that'.

“He works hard for the team, cares about the team and we’re all delighted for him.”

Rovers’ win over Wigan moved them to 16th in the table ahead of this weekend’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday.

With nine games of the season remaining, they are 11 points above the dropzone, and nine off the play-offs, firmly cemented in mid-table in their first season back in the Championship.

For Mowbray, he is wanting a strong finish to the season from his side, with Championship football all but secured for another season after reaching 47 points.

He said: “I’m happy with the points total, let’s win another game or two, and like Tyler, there are one or two more who I would like to give a game to and drop them in to the team and see how they got on.

“The camaraderie of the team is good, and it’s been a while since the attacking part of the team scored goals, especially after three 1-0 defeats. It's not good, we need the strikers to score.

“I think it’s a difficult one. We shouldn’t be looking over our shoulder when we are 11 points above (the bottom three) and nine off the play-offs. We’re pretty cemented in mid-table.

“Teams at the bottom of the table are needing to get four wins from 10 games which isn't easy to do, so we shouldn't have been looking over our shoulder, but I think it’s human nature to check how far away you are. We’ve always looked up and tried to be positive.

“If we can win four or five on the bounce again then we can go into the last four games thinking about winning those. Who knows who’s going to get that sixth spot? Derby have hit a patch where they're struggling to win. 

“Let’s try and win on Saturday, have a break, get some energy back into the team and let’s see where it takes us.”