Tony Mowbray says Rovers’ still have options at the back – despite losing Darragh Lenihan to suspension.

Lenihan will miss this weekend’s visit of Swansea City, and next weekend’s trip to Derby County, after picking up his 10th booking of the season in the early stages of the 0-0 draw with Stoke City.

Rovers have named the same back four for all but one of the fixtures in 2020, with Lenihan and Tosin Adarabioyo becoming a dependable partnership in the heart of the defence.

With Derrick Williams (calf) still out, and Charlie Mulgrew frozen out of the first-team picture, Hayden Carter was on the bench for the away trips to Charlton and Brentford, but Mowbray opted to go without a recognised defender among his substitutes against Stoke.

Ryan Nyambe is the most likely player to slot in at centre half alongside Adarabioyo against Swansea, which would see Elliott Bennett return at right back.

“We have a few options, we’ll make the decision on Friday,” Mowbray said.

“They will be on Thursday, doing a cool-down session, then do a light session on Friday and prep for what’s coming and what Swansea are all about.

“We’ll be ready to go again and historically the third game in a week we’ve done well.

“They generally find the energy in their legs to get the job done, and we’ll look forward to Saturday and getting the job done.”

Going in to Wednesday night’s game Lenihan needed to get through three more matches without a yellow card to avoid a two-match suspension.

But he was booked for pulling back Tyrese Campbell in the early stages of the goalless draw and will now miss Rovers’ next two matches.

A 12th clean sheet has now matched the tally from 2018/19, a positive for the Rovers boss.

But of Lenihan’s impending ban, he said:“That’s a frustration. A clean sheet was a positive for us, we didn’t want to give them anything to cling on to so a clean sheet was very important for us.

“I don’t think it was under too much threat for most of the night.

“Lenihan has been exceptional for us, as has Tosin, but we have to find a different combination for the next two games.”

On the yellow card itself, he added: “It was right in front of me, I think they both had hold of each other but the ball was behind Darragh and I think the referee probably thought he was holding him, but I think they were tugging each other.

“It could have been a warning early in the game, but he took his card out and we have to get on with it, it’s gone now.”

Williams has missed the last three matches with his third separate calf injury this season.

He hasn’t started a Championship game since the Boxing Day draw with Birmingham City and won’t be available for the Swans visit.

“Derrick isn’t ready, the plan will be that he trains on Monday. With a calf injury would it be a gamble to throw him straight in after not doing anything for a few weeks in a game where we need him to be right,” Mowbray explained.

“We’ll see how he feels the next few days, but the plan for Derrick was that he starts training on Monday, give himself a week to get through training and see how things went.

“It’s a huge call at this call to think we’ll throw Williams straight in the team.”