Rovers recorded a third win, and fourth clean sheet, of the season with a 2-0 victory over Millwall at Ewood Park.

A Derrick Williams thunderbolt in the first half was added to by Bradley Dack in the second, with both scoring their second goals of the season.

Rovers were much improved after the break, and could have won by more were it not for some excellent goalkeeping from Bartosz Bialkowski.

Tony Mowbray made two changes which included a home debut for Tosin Adarabioyo and first start in the league for John Buckley. There was also a switch to a back three, with Adam Armstrong employed as a central striker.

Rovers scored inside the opening minute against West Brom last time out, but it was the visitors who threatened early. Ryan Leonard took aim from 25 yards and forced Christian Walton to hang on to his shot with just 40 seconds on the watch. And moments later there was panic in the Rovers defence as Jon Dadi Bodvarson broke in behind. His cross was palmed in to the path of Connor Mahoney by Walton, with Elliott Bennett doing well to get back and clear before he could get a shot off from inside the six yard box.

With Armstrong leading the line, Rovers were being patient when playing out from the back. They managed to get the striker in to a pocket of space 20 yards out in the eighth minute, with his low shot easily gathered by Bartosz Bialkowski.

Rovers’ possession was high, but largely between their back three. However, Williams strode forward from his central defensive position to hand Rovers the lead with a thunderbolt. After being teed up by Greg Cunningham he had no other thought in his mind than shooting goalwards as his effort arrowed in to the far corner.

Millwall responded well to the setback however, and started to get the upperhand. Leonard tried his luck again from distance, after a loose Bradley Johnson pass, only to shoot well over.

The visitors weren’t scared of getting shots away from distance, full back Mahlon Romeo testing the handling of Walton with his low drive in the 26th minute.

The game wasn’t really capturing the imagination though, with clear-cut chances few and far between.

Bradley Dack was struggling to get on the ball, but when he did, he created Rovers’ best opening of the match. His through ball freed Elliott Bennett who took one touch to steady himself, but dragged his shot well wide of the target.

Dack was handed a different role in the second half, leading the line, flanked by Armstrong to the left and substitute Sam Gallagher to his right.

They were both heavily involved in the move which saw Stewart Downing force a smart save from Bialkowski with his strike from 25 yards in the 52nd minute.

And the hosts thought they had a second when Armstrong danced his way through the Millwall defence to get clean through but the left hand of Bialkowski kept out his left foot strike.

It was a strong start to the half by Rovers as Dack didn’t quite catch a Cunningham cross cleanly enough to fully extend Bialkowski.

While there was more purpose about Rovers, Millwall were far from out of what was becoming a more open game. They sent on a second striker in Matt Smith, who replaced Mahoney, as the clock ticked towards the hour.

Rovers soon changed formation themselves, going with a back four as Joe Rothwell replaced Adarabiyo and Gallagher moved in to a centre forward position.

Lenihan made an excellent block to deny Jed Wallace’s shot, after the winger found space inside the box, before the referee waved away penalty appeals from the resulting corner as Jake Cooper went down.

Rothwell saw a shot equally well blocked at the other end, from Cunningham’s pull-back, as one goal remained the difference between the sides.

With Smith and Bodvarson in attack, and plenty of size in their backline, Millwall retained a threat from set plays. Rovers failed to clear a 72nd minute corner before Leonard blasted over the top from a promising position on the edge of the area.

The goal that he, and Rovers, had been threatening came with 16 minutes to play. Rovers worked an overlap from a set play which ended with Lenihan fizzing a ball along the six yard box where Dack was able to turn in at the far post.

Bialkowski had made some excellent saves in the second half but the best of the lot denied Rovers a third with 12 minutes to play. Downing broke forward before feeding Rothwell on his outside and his shot looked set for the bottom corner, only for a fine one-handed stop by the Polish ‘keeper.

There was nothing subtle about Millwall’s approach as they ended the game with three strikers on the pitch, but Rovers stood up to that particular task to record a third win, and fourth clean sheet, of the season.

And there was time for one more Bialkowski save in added time, again denying Armstrong at his near post.

Rovers: Walton, Bennett, Lenihan, Adarabioyo (Rothwell, 62), Williams, Cunnigham, Johnson, Buckley (Gallagher, 46), Downing (Travis, 85), Dack, Armstrong

Subs: Leutwiler, Nyambe, Evans, Graham

Millwall: Bialkowski, Romeo, Pearce, Cooper, M Wallace (Ferguson, 76), J Wallace, Thompson (Bradshaw, 76), Molumby, Leonard, Mahoney (Smith, 59), Bodvarsson

Subs: Steele, Hutchinson, Williams, O'Brien