Tony Mowbray confident Blackburn can beat relegation after Wolves draw

Tony Mowbray believes Blackburn Rovers have what it takes to avoid relegation from the Championship after making an encouraging start with a 2-2 draw against Wolves.

Rovers looked on course for an impressive victory at Molineux after coming from behind to lead 2-1, only for Raul Jimenez’s late penalty to deny them all three points.

Marshall Munetsi gave Wolves an early advantage before Sean McLoughlin equalised for Blackburn. Andri Gudjohnsen then completed the turnaround shortly after half-time.

Despite conceding the controversial late penalty, Mowbray was encouraged by what he saw from his players in his first competitive game since returning for his second spell at Ewood Park.

Mowbray confident Blackburn will survive

Blackburn were widely tipped to struggle again after narrowly avoiding relegation last season, when they finished just five points above the drop zone.

Mowbray, however, is refusing to be influenced by the outside predictions and believes his squad can prove the doubters wrong.

Speaking after the draw, he revealed that he had heard several pundits predicting Blackburn would be involved in another relegation battle.

Rather than allowing those comments to affect his players negatively, Mowbray believes they can use them as motivation.

“I think we’re going to be fine,” he said.

The Blackburn boss did admit there is one area where he wants to see improvement, insisting his team need to become more clinical and score more goals.

Scoring twice away against a side expected to challenge for promotion was nevertheless an encouraging start.

Mowbray wants his players to enjoy football

Mowbray also revealed that he has encouraged his players to rediscover the enjoyment they had when they first started playing football.

The experienced manager believes Blackburn will perform better if his players approach matches with greater freedom and enthusiasm.

He pointed to the importance of having a strong dressing room and using every possible source of motivation during what could be another difficult Championship campaign.

The 2-2 draw certainly provided plenty of encouragement, with Blackburn showing the character to recover from going behind and take the lead against one of the division’s promotion contenders.

Blackburn face Middlesbrough next

Mowbray’s next challenge comes at Ewood Park when Blackburn host Middlesbrough on 22 August.

The Rovers boss knows the test will be a difficult one, particularly against a Middlesbrough side he considers one of the strongest possession-based teams in the Championship.

However, another performance similar to the one produced at Wolves would give Blackburn plenty of reason for optimism.

The club have also added Moussa Baradji, Jayden Fevrier and Sam Morsy during the summer, with Fevrier and Morsy making their debuts from the bench against Wolves.

After finishing 20th last season, Blackburn’s main objective will be to avoid another relegation battle.

For now, Mowbray believes his side have made a statement that they should not be written off.