AGILITY, pace, power and experience – Tony Mowbray is delighted what his new recruits have brought to his Rovers squad.

And the Rovers boss praised the club’s hard working recruitment team for getting it right in the transfer window and getting more balance to the player roster at Ewood Park.

Bradley Johnson, Stewart Downing and Sam Gallagher all arrived on permanent deals with keeper Christian Walton, Greg Cunningham and Tosin Adarabioyo joining Rovers on season-long loans.

With the exception of young Manchester City defender Adarabioyo, who has missed a couple of games through injury, all have made an immediate impact in East Lancashire.

“I do feel like we put a lot of work in with the recruitment department that I have talked about for a quite a while now,” said Mowbray.

“They do an incredible amount of work behind the scenes on signing players.

“So I think we put a lot of hard work in.”

Johnson and Downing – 32 and 35-years-old respectively – and 28-year-old Cunningham have all added experience and know-how that was missing in the squad last term.

“A bit of experience really has impacted the team,” said Mowbray.

“I think Stewart Downing has come in and impacted the team with his experience, his quality and decision making

“Bradley Johnson has impacted the team with his power and awareness and his composure at times.”

Mowbray has also been pleased with the performance of Cunningham – man of the match on his league debut against Middeslbrough last weekend – who cannot play today against his parent club Cardiff City.

“Greg has come in and been really steady and been a very functional part of team and an important part of our team,” added the manager.

“If you put it in to context, Pep Guardiola has spent over £200 million on full backs and it shows that in modern-day football, how imporant full backs are.

“He has come in and done exceptionally well for us.”

While Gallagher has yet to score, Mowbray has no doubts the goals will come while keeper Walton – a loan signing from Brighton – is already proving to be a commanding presence in the penalty area and saved a spot kick in the 1-0 win at Hull City on Tuesday night.

“I think while Sam Gallagher hasn’t got off the mark scoring goals yet I think that he has made a big impact with his power and his pace,” said

Mowbray.

“He has allowed us to have an outlet in that wider area.

“He maybe could have scored the other night (against Hull) he had a header at the back stick and tried to knock back across the face of goal. But maybe if he’s a bit more selfish he tries to score and I have told him that he needs to be a bit more selfish.

“Because at the end of the day he is ultimately going to be judged, as all strikers and attacking players are, on how many goals they score.

“But I think they are all doing fine. The new goalkeeper (Christian Walton) has made a big impact as well. He made a good save from the penalty. So I’m pleased enough but the core of our team is still what it is. It is built on the foundations of the work ethic we put in to them over the last two years.”

Mowbray also pointed out that age is just a number with Johnson and Downing topping the distance covered in recent matches, something that surprised the manager.

“When you do see Bradley Johnson’s numbers, I didn’t expect him to have the best distance covered in our team,” he said.

“I thought he was coming to play pretty central and just move the ball around the pitch and win some headers.

“But his distance covered has been magnificent the last few games. He is running more than (Lewis) Travis for instance in the last game or so which is pretty impressive.

“Is he putting a shift in for the team? Definitely, as well and bringing the stability and quality that he brings.”

He added; “Stewie Downing was a few yards behind him in distance covered the other night.

“They are both doing over 11,500 metres in a football match on a Tuesday night  away at Hull at 35 and 32 which is pretty impressive and shows me how much they are enjoying their football and how much they want to work to help the team win.”