Sam Gallagher savoured the ‘extra special’ feeling of being Rovers’ matchwinner at Stoke City as they made it three wins in seven days to move in to the top half.

Gallagher had a bittersweet moment when opening his Rovers account in the derby defeat at Preston last month but his late strike at the bet365 Stadium helped his side to three points.

The 24-year-old missed the midweek win over Brentford with a tight hamstring but was back in the squad against the Potters and came off the bench to come up with the winner.

Gallagher has endured a tough time in front of goal since his £5m summer move from Southampton, but turned in Elliott Bennett’s cross with six minutes to play to double his tally.

“That’s the kind of stuff you dream about going to bed on Friday night, wishing it’ll happen on a Saturday and for it to happen I’m over the moon,” Gallagher said.

“I’ve started to make a movement, checked back and luckily Benno has seen that and put it on a plate for me. I was delighted to see it go in and to celebrate with the fans was special.”

Rovers led courtesy of Bradley Dack’s 10th goal of the season but were pegged back in the second half when Corry Evans put through his own goal as they failed to deal with a corner.

At that point the home fans sensed the possibility of a winner for their side, but a fine Rovers move, finished off by Gallagher, saw the points go back to east Lancashire.

“You speak to the boys and up until their goal we felt in charge and in control, but that’s always the danger of being 1-0 up away from home,” Gallagher added.

“They got the goal and the atmosphere changed a bit, they got wind in their sails but to score any winner in any game is enjoyable. That was extra special.”

The win was a third in the space of a week for Rovers, who had won just five of their opening 16 league matches.

Having overcome bottom side Barnsley and in-form Brentford at Ewood, they claimed a first win on the road in two months when inflicting a second successive defeat on Michael O’Neill’s Potters.

And speaking of a perfect week, Gallagher said: “It’s a great feeling. It’s confidence, getting that momentum and looking forward to the next one.

“When you win you look forward to Saturday then look forward to Tuesday so it’s the kind of run you want to keep going.

“We’ve played against three completely different teams, Brentford are a total football side and Stoke on a cold Saturday or whatever we’ve shown we can do that as well.

“We’ve shown we can score away from home and put in performances but it just comes down to being solid and that’s what we were and got the win.”

Gallagher was restored to the matchday squad, but saw Danny Graham preferred in attack as Tony Mowbray named an unchanged side for the trip to Staffordshire.

Despite being a regular in the starting line-up since rejoining the club after a loan spell in 2016/17, Gallagher admits he could have no complaints about being among the substitutes given the performance against Brentford three days earlier.

“As long as we’re winning I’ve got no issues at all,” he explained. “You saw the performance on Wednesday night, it shows the strength we’ve got, players are ready to come in and we have competition all over which is a good sign.

“It shows what this team is about, that we can do it and hopefully this is more to come.”

He added: “I think when you’re any forward as a sub you want to come on and make an impact on the game, try and change things or score a goal.”