Tony Mowbray believes Rovers’ next six games will give a clearer picture of where his side are in their development.

Rovers reached the first international break with seven points from their opening six matches, leaving them 17th in the table, after a third defeat of the season at the Hawthorns last weekend. That brought to an end a run of three consecutive clean sheets which brought them seven points after back-to-back defeats to start the season.

Mowbray has tasked his side with improving on last season’s 15th-placed finish and is looking to push towards the top six.

And with four home games to come in their six fixtures after the international break, the boss wants to see his side put more points on the board.

“We have got seven points. Moving forward, ultimately seven points isn’t enough,” the boss said.

“We need to be more looking towards 12 points.

“I think the next six games will give us a clearer picture of where we are and after 12 games let’s see where we are.”

Rovers went in to the two-week break from Championship action on the back of a 3-2 defeat at the boss’ former side West Bromwich Albion.

That was their third defeat in the opening six games of the season, after losing their opening two games to Charlton Athletic and Fulham.

It has been a tough start on paper for Mowbray’s side, with the newly-promoted Addicks being the surprise package of the division in the early weeks, while in Fulham and Cardiff, they have faced two teams relegated from the Premier League last season.

In Middlesbrough and West Brom they have also come up against two sides who were beaten in the play-offs last season.

And while Mowbray admits Rovers haven’t accumulated the points he would have liked in their opening six games, he is looking for them to push on when they return to action at home to Millwall on September 14.

“You never know who’s going to be strong and who’s not,” he said.

“On paper, you’d expect Fulham to be strong, West Brom to be strong, Middlesbrough to be strong, Cardiff to be strong, on paper it’s a really tough set of fixtures for us.

“We’re frustrated ultimately, with the three losses that we have on the board as we can’t keep losing matches,” the boss added..

“I think we’re going to get better, because this team is a ‘work in progress’, and I think that, after the international break, we need to really target the home games as, although every fixture is difficult, they become slightly more favourable for us as the season progresses.

“We need to see where we are after 12 games, because the opponents we’ve played after our first six games are all, probably bar a couple, top-half or top-six candidates.

“We’re currently on seven points, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to build momentum and push onwards and upwards as we progress.”