Mark Bowen won’t allow his players to go through the motions in their final two games, not least as he looks to get a result at one of his former clubs this afternoon.

The Welshman spent nearly four years at Rovers as assistant to Mark Hughes, after the pair arrived from their roles with the Wales FA in 2004 before leaving for Manchester City in 2008.

Bowen has since worked with Hughes at QPR, Stoke City and Southampton before taking up a role as technical consultant with Reading at the start of the season.

He later succeeded Jose Gomes in the manager’s seat in October and has since led something of a revival at the Madejski Stadium, ensuring a safe mid-table finish for the Royals.

Their three-game unbeaten run was ended by Middlesbrough in midweek, with inconsistency having blighted their season.

Bowen is determined for his side to finish their season on a positive note, with a home game with Swansea to follow on the final day, ahead of the return to Ewood Park where he says he spent ‘a few happy years’.

He said: “If we get results where we’ve been disappointed, invariably we bounce back.

“The problem is, too many times we’ve had to bounce back instead of stringing out consistency.

“So we’ll prepare as well as we can for Blackburn, and put demands on the players there to go and get a result – like we’ve done in our last two away games.

“I’ve got to be careful that we don’t just go through the motions in the next two games. That’s not good enough for the fans watching, and not good enough for the club.

“And Blackburn is one of my old clubs – I spent a few happy years there as an assistant manager, so I’d like to go back and get a result.”

Reading midfielder John Swift has enjoyed a fine season for the Royals and could lead the side at Ewood Park this afternoon.

He said: “Blackburn are a good team – they’ll put us under a lot of pressure, like Middlesbrough did.

“Hopefully we can cope a bit better – get the ball down and play. We went away from that a bit against Middlesbrough.

“When we played them at our place, we ended up losing the game. They’ve got some good players in their team. But we’re just focusing on us really. If we can tighten up our performance, play like we were before Middlesbrough, and keep our away form as it is – I’m sure we can come away with three points.”

  • LUCAS Joao could be saved for next season, with Reading unlikely to risk the striker for their final two games.

The former Rovers loanee has five goals in his last eight Royals appearance, including one on their first game back after lockdown, only to be forced off with a hamstring injury after 30 minutes.

He’s missed the six matches with the problem, but is now back training, although not fully, and manager Bowen says allowing the Portuguese forward chance to recover fully could well be in his best interests.

Joao scored three times in 13 appearances for Rovers having signed from Sheffield Wednesday in the final months of the 2016/17 campaign in which they were relegated to League One.

He secured a £5m move to Reading in the summer, scoring six times in all, but has struggled with availability throughout the campaign.

And Bowen told his club’s website: “I’ve got a conundrum with Lucas, he’s had a hamstring issue, and now he’s started back in training, not on a big pitch, but in small-sided games.

“He wants to play and he’s keen to start.

“But it’s a huge decision, because where we find ourselves at the moment, the last thing I need is for him to be involved in the next two games and something happen to him.

“All I want is to have him fit and 100 per cent ready at the start of next season.”