Todd Cantwell set Blackburn Rovers challenge after Tony Mowbray talks

Tony Mowbray is striving to unlock more consistency from Todd Cantwell after he illustrated his quality in Blackburn Rovers' win over Strasbourg.

The captain secured victory for Tony Mowbray's side by adding a second in their 2-0 victory. He received the ball on the edge of the box, took a great first touch and fired the ball into the bottom corner.

There has never been any questioning Cantwell's ability; he is quite clearly one of Rovers' best technically. But he has struggled to prove that with his numbers and with sustained periods of form.

He started last season very brightly but a knee injury saw him miss almost two months of football. From there, he picked up little niggles and failed to build any momentum.

READ MORE: Injury concern, line-ups and penalty save as Blackburn Rovers beat Strasbourg

Mowbray wants to continue challenging Cantwell to ensure they get the best from him.

"I've been talking to him a lot about keeping him higher up the pitch," Mowbray told RoversTV.

"He has to believe that the team can get him the ball, really. If I talk to Todd, he goes deeper to get a kick and get the ball.

"He has to trust that we are going to get it through to him and he can receive it around the edge of the box like he did today and score because he's got the quality, undoubtedly.

"As we try and bring more players in, I have to bring some real competition in so that he's pushed and to make sure he doesn't think he's going to play every week.

"His personality is that he's a good player and he knows he's a good player and I want to fill the club full of good players. Of course, I want to improve a lot of the ones that we've got so that everybody is really fighting for competition to get in this team.

"If we can have different types for different positions, then we can pick different sorts of teams to play against different sorts of teams in the Championship, which you come across. Yes, we're looking forward to the challenge.

"It's good today to beat a team in European competition and connected to Chelsea. It's shown today that we can compete with most teams."

Rovers' victory was an impressive one, against good opposition. Mowbray admitted a few things went in their favour with a freak own goal and penalty save but he was pleased with the combinations his side produced.

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"We played against another good team today. It went a little bit out of way today," he admitted.

"Obviously, Pearsy saved a penalty, which was a harsh penalty, I think. But yes, a good workout against a good team. I think there was some better play from us today.

"With total respect to Strasbourg, they're probably not Nottingham Forest too. They've got £60m, £70m, £80m footballers in their team. So, it was a good week, a good workout.

"There were signs today of it coming together, us connecting as a team through the middle of the pitch and then using the width and the speed on the outside to get into their box and threaten.

"So, plenty of positives. I'm happy so let's move on to the next game next week."