Tony Mowbray admits there were more concerns than positives as Rovers edged past Oldham Athletic in to round two of the Carabao Cup.

Joe Rothwell scored a last-gasp winner, in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Stewart Downing had levelled things up only moments before.

Oldham had threatened a cup shock when Mohamed Maouche struck 10 minutes from time.

The visitors had led for over an hour after Gevano Nepomuceno opened the scoring, before the introduction of Bradley Dack turned the game in Rovers’ favour.

Mowbray made 11 changes from the team which was beaten at Fulham on Saturday and was disappointed with his side’s display.

He said: “We didn’t get in behind them or down the sides and played in front of them too much.

“It wasn’t until we made some changes that we got back in to it.

“We decided to go a bit more direct and that paid off, we could have scored more.

“Dacky missed a one-on-one with the goalie which I don’t think I’ve seen before.

“We found a way to win but let’s be honest, it wasn’t very good.

“But as I came in and saw the scores and saw six or seven Championship teams getting beaten, it was probably a night of teams making too many changes thinking they might get away with it against teams in the lower leagues but haven’t.

“That could have been us added to the statistics but you have to give them credit because they found a way to win the game in the end, one that looked if it was going to penalties, then going out, then to penalties again, but then we found a way to win at the death.

“Let’s put it behind us. I will learn the lessons. I am driving home now and will have a couple of hours to contemplate what was good, what was bad.

“There were more concerns than positives.

“It felt like a low atmosphere game and you hope the players coming in can express themselves and show their talent.

“In the end it was a few old-stagers, Downing and Graham, who really influenced the game and then Dack when he was introduced which made the difference in the end.”

Mowbray rang the changes, with a debut for on-loan full back Greg Cunningham and a first Rovers start for John Buckley.

But the boss added: “I have said that I was disappointed with the performance, let’s not get carried away just because we beat Oldham Athletic.

“I want competition for places, really intense competition.

“We never really asked enough questions of them, never really peppered their goal, until the last few minutes.

“The positive is that we’re through. There are lots of things to improve on and try and get better at.”

Tosin Adarabioyo and Derrick Williams were both left out of the squad, with an injury worry also over Darragh Lenihan who missed the Craven Cottage defeat.

That meant starts for Matty Platt and Joe Grayson in the heart of the defence.

And while Rovers shipped two goals, Mowbray felt the pair could have helped build attacks more from the back.

“My mentality is that if you’re not good enough to play against Oldham Athletic then you shouldn’t really be in the building. That’s my mentality,” he added.

“If we had lost then I’d have had to put my hands up and say ‘it’s my fault’.

“I said to both Platt and Grayson that my disappointment with them wasn’t really their defending, but when they are in possession they have to step in, you can’t get the ball in 30 yards of space and keep playing long passes.

“You have to move in to the space, commit their striker, pass through their midfield. But that’s just a maturity thing and as they grow up, they might need to go out on loan and learn that.

“Let’s see what the three weeks in the windows brings, but we have to be careful.

“That was Tosin and Derrick’s first games of the season, and we had to be careful with big league games coming up.”