Rovers possess the Championship’s second youngest squad and had five Academy players in the starting line-up at Stoke City with one in particular singled out for praise by his manager.

Tony Mowbray hailed John Buckley’s rise after the Peterborough United win, stating the midfielder, as well as the team, were performing ahead of expectation.

The midfielder then took his performance up a level against the Potters with a midfield masterclass to help Rovers move up to fourth in the table with their fifth win in seven matches.

The team that saw out the win had an average age of only 22.6, with Darragh Lenihan the only one over 24, the captain making up the Academy figure along with Buckley, Ryan Nyambe, Scott Wharton and Lewis Travis.

Wharton has had a seamless return to the side after 11 months out with a ruptured Achilles and the quintet are all now bona fide first-team regulars having graduated through the club’s ranks.

Mowbray is rarely one to single out individuals for praise, believing in the collective, but couldn’t help wax lyrical about 22-year-old Buckley who put in a coming of age performance.

“John Buckley, what a footballer, I shouldn’t single some players out but Buckley catches the eye the way that he weaves and glides away from people, gets his head up and how he can nick it, he always seems to get a toe on it and draws fouls,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“He’s a wonderful young man and footballer.

“It’s exciting because he has so much more to learn about the game, yet if you are where he is already it’s really exciting for this football club.”

Lenihan took over the captaincy on a permanent basis in the summer following the departure of Elliott Bennett, with several other experienced figures having also left the club in recent seasons.

The Irishman has assumed more responsibility as a result and Mowbray says he is doing a fine job of leading the troops.

The 27-year-old is now up to 226 appearances for the club, with full back Nyambe on 185 and midfielder Travis on 126.

They have been fixtures in the side under Mowbray, while Buckley made all but one of the matchday squads last season and featured in 19 of the 20 games so far.

Mowbray added: “I’m happy for them all.

“Lenihan, for a guy who is not much over six foot, he heads it like a 6’5 centre half and attacks the ball fantastically well and is the leader of our team.

“He’s doing immensely well.

“Scott Wharton as well. Scotty kept going into challenges and always came out on top. 

“Ryan is an integral part of the side, Trav is a warrior and when you talk about players who players who play every week and how robust they are then he is one of them.

“Sometimes it goes unseen how often he blocks things, nicks things away from people or stops a counter-attack.

“They’re all doing great, it’s good for the Academy, good for the club.

“It’s hard on the back of a pandemic but we can’t keep doing it with Academy players, we need to continue the investment.”

Alongside the five Academy graduates, loanees Reda Khadra and Jan Paul van Hecke were Thomas Kaminski, Harry Pickering and Joe Rothwell recruited for small six-figure fees and then big-money buy Ben Brereton.

He is starting deliver on the promise showed when Rovers paid £6m for him from Nottingham Forest in 2018, the same year they signed Adam Armstrong for £1.75m while Sam Gallagher arrived the following year for £5m.

They have been Rovers seven-figure buys under Mowbray who have banked almost £20m in that time for the sales of Armstrong and David Raya to Brentford.

Tayo Edun was the only permanent addition in the summer, signed from League One side Lincoln City, and Mowbray has always maintained that recruitment in the side is vital in a bid to progress.

That comes as the same time as Rovers look to plug the gaps in their finances in a bid to stave off Profit & Sustainability rules, with player sales expected to be a key part of the club’s model moving forward.

And Mowbray added: “The owners have been amazing during my time here, Brereton, Armstrong, Gallagher, players we’ve invested in and I hope the returns are there for them on the back of it.

“The main thing for is to try and win games and build a team that can push on so when we play other teams the opposition manager is saying ‘look at the players we’ve got’.

“That’s ideally where you want to get to where the other team feel how difficult a day it’s going to be with the quality of player you possess.”

  • Gain unlimited access to the Lancashire Telegraph website with a premium digital subscription - we are running a £2 for two months special offer