Mowbray provides latest updates on Blackburn Rovers’ injury crisis

Tony Mowbray has ruled out Hayden Carter and Scott Wharton being rushed back for Blackburn this weekend despite Tom Atcheson’s red card against Lincoln City.

Blackburn were held to a goalless draw by Lincoln on Tuesday night, with Atcheson’s dismissal leaving Mowbray short of options at centre-back ahead of Saturday’s trip to Preston.

However, the Rovers boss insists Carter and Wharton will not be rushed back from their respective injury problems.

“No, they’re not ready to play,” Mowbray insisted.

“Neither of them. They definitely will not play at the weekend. We have a duty of care to those players. We can’t just throw them in because there is an emergency.

“They’ve got careers and they need to build up through training first and then they’re potentially going to play some Under-21s games to get their bodies acclimatised back to playing competitive football.”

Mowbray admitted he could be forced to use a midfielder in defence against Preston, while young defender Michael Decandia is another option.

“We’ll see what we decide to do, whether we put the young kid in or whether we play a midfield player there,” he said.

“We could even play the one centre-half and play two others alongside him to keep it secure.

“We’ll work it in training and we’ll come up with, hopefully, an idea of how we can go to Preston and get a positive result.”

Mowbray also confirmed Harry Pickering will miss the weekend fixture, but Ryan Alebiosu is expected to recover after coming off late against Lincoln.

“Pickers isn’t going to play,” he said.

“I would think Alebiosu will be OK. Whilst he’s a wonderful talent, he’s at times fragile.

“But I think the right words in his ear from the physio department will get him ready for the weekend, I’m pretty sure.”

New signing Gady Beyuku is also not ready to feature, with Mowbray admitting Blackburn, who are also without striker Yuki Ohashi, are “thin on the ground defensively”.

“There is one addition coming in but he won’t help because I don’t think he has played much football this year,” he said.

“He is going to have to train, get himself ready, probably play a 21s game and get up to speed quickly.”

Goalkeeper Balazs Toth is another concern with a thigh problem, although Mowbray does not expect him to be sidelined for several weeks.

“I think it was tightness,” Mowbray explained.

“He did come and see me and assured me that it was nothing to do with the transfer deadline day. He felt his thigh, he didn’t want to kick some balls and rupture it completely and be out for months, so I think he made a very mature decision.

“Pearsy obviously came in and did exceptionally well, as he has done in the past. I would suggest we will probably stick with Aynsley in the shorter term, see how it goes and see how Toth is.

“But they are adding up, they are mounting up, the problems.”

Mowbray also revealed left-back Yuri Ribeiro is playing despite not being fully fit but praised his commitment to the cause.

“He is running through a brick wall for us at the moment because he could easily be sitting on the bench,” Mowbray said.

“He has got lots of knocks and niggles around his calves and his knees, but he has been warrior-like to play.”