Tony Mowbray: Rovers must accept relegation

Tony-Mowbray-Blackburn-Rovers

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Tony Mowbray admits Blackburn must accept relegation from the Championship although he believes they were unfortunate to finish the campaign in the bottom three.

Rovers went into their final match of the season knowing a win might not be enough to keep them in the division and so it proved, as despite a 3-1 success at Brentford they were unable to move out of the bottom three courtesy of victories for Nottingham Forest and Birmingham.

Mowbray, who has only lost three of his 15 matches since succeeding Owen Coyle as manager at Ewood Park in February, admits relegation feels a little harsh on his players, but they have ultimately not been good enough over the course of the 46-game season.

“Over the 46 games this year this group haven’t been good enough to get the points required,” Mowbray said.

“But I couldn’t question them in the 15 games I’ve been here. They’ve lost three from being second-bottom in the league.

“It has been a fantastic effort from them all. It feels a little bit unfair today because of the effort they have put in.”

The Blue and Whites are now facing up to life in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1980, with the likes of Fleetwood, Shrewsbury and Wimbledon set to visit Ewood Park over the course of the 2017-18 campaign.

Blackburn will be hoping to make an instant return to the second tier and they can take solace from Lancashire rivals Bolton, who were able to bounce back to the Championship at the first time of asking this season.

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