Rovers hope the knee injury to Harvey Elliott that forced him off at Preston North End isn’t anything more than a bruise.

Liverpool winger Elliott wasn’t included in the starting line-up for the first time since joining on a season-long loan deal on deadline day but was sent on with Rovers 2-0 up on the hour mark.

His pass helped create the third goal, scored by Tyrhys Dolan on his return to Deepdale, but he received treatment shortly afterwards following a strong challenge by Ryan Ledson.

The teenager was able to hobble off, but Rovers took no chances, with John Buckley replacing him for the closing stages.

Elliott will be assessed ahead of the weekend visit of Barnsley, but Mowbray is hopeful that the injury won’t prove to be anything serious.

He said: “The early news is that we hope it’s just a kick.

“It’s come up pretty quickly, a bruise, but it doesn’t look like it’s badly damaged.

“When you think of a knee injury you think of ligaments but it doesn’t seem to be anything like that.

“Just a pretty severe kick and we’re hoping that’s all it is.

“People like Harvey Elliott cannot play every three days.

“The eight first-team players we have unavailable we need to get them back as soon as we can.”

Rovers scored three unanswered goals, and in doing so, kept a sixth clean sheet of the season.

Thomas Kaminski has continued to impress between the sticks since his move from AA Gent, while Scott Wharton put in a mature performance alongside Darragh Lenihan.

Daniel Ayala is set to train with the squad for the first time in a month on Thursday after a groin issue, while a thigh issue is still sidelining Derrick Williams.

“I think it’s six clean sheets now, the goalkeeper looks to be really high quality, looks so calm and collected,” Mowbray said.

“He doesn’t look under pressure, he does the basics well, his distribution is first class and he brings a calming influence to the team.

“I also thought Lenihan and Wharton were exceptional, it’s never easy coming to Preston and I thought we dealt with everything really well.

“Centre half is an area where we’ve struggled, Daniel Ayala was brought in to be the man, he’s won two promotions from this league, but has been injured.

“Derrick Williams started the season well for us, so it’s been frustrating for us, but Scotty Wharton who was playing in League Two last season with Northampton has done exceptionally well for us.”