Tony Mowbray says Lewis Travis may require surgery on a knee injury picked up in the defeat at Newcastle United.

Travis limped through the closing stages before coming off in the dying embers of the Carabao Cup tie at St James’ Park which Rovers lost 1-0.

The injury was sustained as Travis thundered in to a challenge with Jacob Murphy, and despite winning the ball, came off worse in the challenge, twice requiring treatment to the injury.

It is similar to the injury which he picked up in the defeat at Wigan Athletic at the end of last season, with the 22-year-old sitting out the defeat to Barnsley, but was quickly back in action for the next fixture against Leeds United.

However, Mowbray says this time Travis could require surgery in a bid to overcome the injury, despite the player’s willingness to keep playing through the pain barrier.

Rovers were without two central midfielders for the Newcastle fixture, with Bradley Johnson and Corry Evans missing out with ankle injuries, though both of those are thought to be short-term.

Mowbray said: “I could have gone wholesale changes, the first team I picked on my board had everyone changed, but I thought that would send the wrong message that we didn’t care about the cup and it didn’t matter.

“I felt the performance was very good on Saturday and thought about the momentum.

“The danger was injuries and it looks like we’ve picked up a pretty bad injury unfortunately.

“The reason we left Armstrong on the bench was because he’s our killer at the moment, the guy who can stick the ball in the net when the chances come.

“We couldn’t afford to not have Adam Armstrong on the pitch against Wycombe on Saturday so was the one player that I left out.

“Yet I thought young Dolan deserved an opportunity to show everyone what he can do.

“We made those changes, Rothwell came in for Johnson, who has an ankle knock, but the frustration for me is that it looks as though Travis might have a damaged lateral knee ligament injury and that would be a massive blow for the football club and our team.

“The positive is with Trav is that he’s a warrior and I’m sure he’ll be telling the physios he’s okay for Saturday. But I’ve had a chat with the doctor who says his lateral ligament is pretty loose.

“I would probably expect him to have surgery to have a look at it, but it might not be, you never know.

“If anyone is going to be fit Travis will be fit, because he’s a warrior, he’s an amazing human being.

“My first reaction it looks a pretty and lateral knee ligament injury.”