Another big week lies ahead as Rovers battle to preserve their Championship status – and John Eustace insists “we will roll our sleeves up and get on with it”.

Eustace’s men have a four-point cushion above the drop zone with five games still to play before the end of the season.

The squad can take encouragement from their performances of late, winning 5-1 at Sunderland before drawing 0-0 against promotion hopefuls Southampton at Ewood Park.

Next up is a trip to Bristol City on Wednesday night before heading across the Pennines to take on Leeds at the weekend.

“We will have a couple of days now, obviously we take each game as it comes. It is a big game on Wednesday night which we are all looking forward to,” said Eustace.

“We won’t be getting back until the early hours on Thursday and then we have got a 12.30 kick-off on the Saturday, which is not ideal.

“But again, it is a no excuse culture here at the football club. We will roll our sleeves up and get on with it.”

Rovers have conceded four goals in their last six matches and there has been a significant improvement in their defensive numbers since Eustace took charge a couple of months ago.

The head coach has been encouraged by their recent progress but believes there is still more to come, particularly in front of goal.

“We have had too many draws, we know that and we know where we need to improve,” he continued.

“We need to be more clinical in the final third. We have had lots of opportunities in all the games we have played where we could have maybe got the three points.

“It is also that little bit of luck, the ball dropping in the right areas at times, which we had on Monday but didn’t get (against Southampton).

“We have got five massive games and we hopefully we can pick up some more points and goals.”

Eustace arrived in East Lancashire after the transfer window had closed, which meant he was not immediately able to put his stamp on the squad.

However, the former Birmingham chief has had no complaints about the squad he inherited and hailed their hard work on the training pitch.

“The players have been outstanding,” he said. “They listen to every message that we give and it only comes from working hard on the training field, that is how you get your rewards and results.

“The group have been sensational on the training pitch, even when we played nine games in 28 days.

“We still had opportunity to work, go into the classroom and study, and the group have taken every message on board.

“From that side, it is very pleasing. Now it is very important for these final five games that we win a couple more and keep picking points up.”