DELIGHTED Gary Bowyer was only too happy to correct himself after watching his injury ravaged Blackburn Rovers side extend their winning league run to three matches yesterday with a fine 3-1 victory at in-form Charlton Athletic.

But the Rovers boss was less pleased with comments made by rival Championship managers about his leading marksman Jordan Rhodes in the lead-up to the Valley encounter.

Rhodes, once again, took the speculation over his future in his stride as he scored two goals either side of half-time to take his tally for the term up to 16.

Craig Conway was also on target in a win that moved Rovers within eight points of the play-offs going into Tuesday’s crunch clash at home to sixth-placed Brentford.

And it was a win made all the more impressive by the fact they lost three more men – Conway, stand-in skipper Lee Williamson and Doneil Henry – to injury.

 “On Wednesday night I said the win against Bolton Wanderers was the best of our season but that has bettered it,” said Bowyer, who was already without seven first-team players.

“To come away after a gruelling two weeks and produce that level of performance was fantastic.

“We had to stand firm at times as we knew that Charlton would have a spell but we withstood that and could have won by more.

“I think there are only two or three players that have played one position today.  It was like an old game of Punchlines, with people changing positions halfway through, so full credit to the character of the players, they just got on with it.

“Ben Marshall has played right-wing, left-wing and right-back, Tommy Spurr has played left-back and left-sided centre back, they’ve done tremendous, everyone of them.

 “The character is magnificent from them. At one point when Doneil was going off Chris Brown was volunteering to go to centre-back.

“It just shows you the character of the players we’ve got here, like we’ve said all along.

“I sound like a broken record but you saw the commitment and desire they have for this football club.”

Rhodes’ first goal was the 150th of his league career and his second was his seventh in his last nine appearances.

Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Norwich City all expressed an interest in taking the prolific striker on loan after he had to settle for a place on the bench in Rovers’ superb FA Cup 0-0 draw at Liverpool.

Forest manager Dougie Freedman revealed he had contacted Bowyer over Rhodes’ availability while Derby head coach Steve McClaren said Rovers would be ‘crazy’ to let their £8m forward go but that it would be ‘interesting’ if they allowed it to happen.

Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka, though, refused to comment on his side’s bid.

And Bowyer, who has insisted all along Rhodes is going nowhere, said: “One or two managers conducted their business publically, which I think is poor.

“I think Mr Karanka was outstanding in his press conference when he didn’t want to talk about Jordan Rhodes. Full respect to him for that.”