TONY Mowbray said he wanted Rovers to enjoy the feeling of winning games in the lead up to their start to life in the Checkatrade Trophy.

One side who haven’t been short of wins so far this season have been Damien Johnson’s Under-23s who have started their campaign with three consecutive wins.

So it was great to see a number of them rewarded for their progress as six of them either made their first senior starts, or Rovers debuts, in the 1-0 victory over Stoke City Under-21s at Ewood Park.

And after six goals in three games for the Under-23s, it was left for Joe Nuttall to come off the bench and score the winner, poking home after being played in by the impressive Harry Chapman.

Mowbray made 10 changes from the side which beat MK Dons at the weekend, with Derrick Williams, who captained the side, the only man to keep his place.

That saw debuts for goalkeeper Andrew Fisher and full-back Lewis Travis, while there were first starts for left-back Jack Doyle and central midfielder Willem Tomlinson as reward for their performances for the Under-23s.

It was a particularly open start, with Harry Chapman getting the few fans that were inside Ewood Park off their feet with a dazzling run past four men early on.

The first effort on target came when Danny Graham saw his header saved by Jakob Haugaard from a Peter Whittingham corner, before Chapman forced the Danish keeper in to another good stop low down after linking up with Travis who was being particularly adventurous down the right.

Rovers were working some nice opening, but their final ball just wasn’t finding its intended target, as Stoke managed to hang on.

The visitors, managed by former Rovers reverse boss Glyn Hodges, were happy to play on the counter-attack and fired several shots off from distance, including one from Charlie Adam from inside his own half.

Fisher in the Rovers goal wasn’t particularly troubled, though Stoke’s best chance of the first half came inside the opening five minutes when Tyrese Campbell poked wide from inside the six yard box as an Adam corner found its way to him.

The one worry from the first-half however was an injury to Williams, who when replaced by Matty Platt, meant the entire Rovers back five were Academy graduates.  Indeed, seven of the team were 20 or under.

The half was to end with a decent chance for Stoke, but once again they failed to trouble Fisher, as Oliver Shenton dragged an effort wide of the near post.

Richie Smallwood came on at the break, replacing Ryan Nyambe in the heart of the Rovers defence, but it was Stoke who threatened first.  Once again it came from Adam, and he will have been disappointed not to have hit the target from 18 yards out after driving forward from midfield.

Rovers were struggling to find any fluency after the break, and almost fell behind just after the hour mark, only for Fisher to be alert to the danger when Shenton’s shot was deflected goalwards.

The shots continued to rain in from distance for the visitors, with Mark Waddington and Adam trying their luck as the game tipped in to the final 20 minutes.

But with 13 minutes to go, Rovers found the opener, with Joe Nuttall grabbing the goal on his senior debut for the club.  He showed great pace to run on to a through ball from Chapman, poking the ball beyond the advancing goalkeeper and in to the corner.

There was an eight minute delay after the goal, with the keeper receiving treatment after colliding with the striker, and he had to be replaced by Daniel Gyollai.

That delay somewhat took the tempo out of the game, but Stoke came within inches of an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time, only for Adam’s free-kick to be deflected wide of the target with Fisher rooted to the spot.

Chapman went close before the end, as he saw another effort saved, as Rovers saw the game out.