Lewis Holtby believes Rovers have to take advantage of the momentum built up by the 5-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Rovers return from a five-day trip to Portugal tomorrow before stepping up their preparations for their return to Championship action against Queens Park Rangers at Ewood Park on Tuesday.

Tony Mowbray took the opportunity, given the lack of game this weekend, to take his players away for a training camp in the Algarve, with Holtby stressing hard work is key for Rovers’ ambitions in the remaining 18 games.

They moved back in to the top half, and six points shy of the top six after Holtby’s double helped them to an emphatic win at Hillsborough last weekend.

And the German midfielder said: “We’ve got 18 games left and we’ll see where it takes us. “We’ve almost been in the top six a few weeks ago, we’ve been around it but never snatched it.

“Now it’s down to us.

“It will give us a lift but we have to analyse it in the right way, shouldn’t get carried away.

“We had six tough games behind us after eight games without a loss, be humble, look at the game and try and give it everything to play how we did.

“The good thing is we’ve had a lot of days to recover, we’ll recover in training, be humble after a win like that.”

Holtby, a free agent signing in September after leaving Hamburg, took his tally to three goals this season with a double against the Owls.

The 29-year-old has started each of the last two matches in his favoured No.10 role which has been vacated by the injury to top scorer Bradley Dack.

Holtby has had niggling injuries of his own, missing the trio of defeats over the festive period at Huddersfield, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City in the FA Cup.

But Mowbray is pleased to have Holtby back fit, despite finding the demands of the English game tough.

And believing he can have a big part to play for Rovers, he said: “Lewis is a very talented footballer.

“He’s just a very talented guy who can fit in anywhere.

“He’s happy to play centre mid, off the right, off the left, happy to play in behind the striker.

“He’s come from a different country, he’s had his hamstring issues, he finds the intensity of the game a bit of a surprise.

“He’s found the workload and demand greater than where he came from. If you’re asking him to do it every three days it’s tough.

“Hopefully he can go on a run and make the difference for us.”