A fourth clean sheet in a row at Ewood Park helped Rovers move back into the Championship’s top six and is breeding confidence for head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Rovers are yet to concede in their four league games at home in 2023 which have helped bring 10 points.

It is now 13 clean sheets in 33 games, the second most in the division, and nine in their 16 Ewood matches.

They are just two behind the tally collected in the whole of last season, and this despite disruption in the backline due to injury.

Aynsley Pears has now kept five clean sheets in his seven matches this calendar year, supported by the efforts of those infront of him as Blackpool went the whole game without a shot on target.

“I think it’s important to be solid and the lads invested a lot of energy in defending,” Tomasson said.

“Sometimes we defend high, other times deeper. I would always like pressure on the ball, we don’t always have pressure on the ball, but the lads are doing that really well.

“Aynsley has played seven games in 2023 and achieved five clean-sheets which shows how solid our defence has been, so that of course gives confidence to Aynsley and the defence which is positive.

“We give them a game-plan to win games, it’s not always successful, but we’re trying to do the right things.

“It’s of course a good feeling in 2023 that we’ve only lost one game, and that gives the boys confidence that they need.”

Rovers enjoyed a similar run of clean sheets at Ewood last season, conceding one in six home matches either side of the New Year, claiming 16 points out of a possible 18 to move them into promotion contention.

While February has typically been a tough month for Rovers, they head to QPR this weekend looking to maintain their unbeaten run.

QPR will be under the new management of Gareth Ainsworth, but have won just once in their last 13 matches.

Rovers will travel to Loftus Road fourth in the table, though Tomasson is paying no attention to that.

He added: “We go on the pitch to win games.

“We might not always be successful but that's the mindset of the group.

“They are great lads, we want a good performance and result.

“We know how difficult this competition is, it's a top-class competition.

“You can lose and win every game in this league, but it’s great to see that we are solid.”