In isolation, coming from behind to earn a point against a team who would have gone top of the league had they held on, isn’t to be sniffed at.

But in the course of Rovers’ season where an unlikely 12 points from their final four games was needed to mount any hopes of a top six finish, it felt like not enough.

Should Rovers miss out, then it’s unlikely to be by much, with plenty of entries in to the ‘what if/what might have been?’ category.

They will be left to reflect on home defeats to newly-promoted duo Charlton and Luton in the opening two months of the season, a Christmas period where they took just two points from four games between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, or the back-to-back defeats at Wigan and Barnsley.

But while they stick in the mind, every team will be saying similar, and there will be countless other moments across the season that will have gone for and against them.

One thing that hasn’t, is injuries.

Were Rovers to have been able to field their strongest team for all 46 games, as hypothetical and unrealistic is that is, you’d wager there wouldn’t be six stronger sides in the division.

Adding Greg Cunningham to a back four with Darragh Lenihan, Tosin Adarabioyo and Ryan Nyambe, Corry Evans, Lewis Travis and Stewart Downing in midfield, and take your pick of another attacker alongside Adam Armstrong and Bradley Dack and you have yourself a strong Championship side.

The unfortunate thing for Rovers is that between Cunningham, Evans, Lenihan and Dack, they have played only a combined 75 matches.

And so to the table, Rovers 12th on 60 points, matching that of last season. They have three games to try and put as much distance between last season and this as possible, with an unbeaten finish needed to reach the 67 achieved in 2014/15, having a year earlier clocked up 70 which is now beyond them. The eighth-placed finish achieved that year however, isn’t.

That’s their highest since relegation, and the frustration will come in that whoever does finish in a sixth position that no-one seems to want to make their own, the points tally could well be the lowest for some time.

In 2016/17 it was as high as 80, with 74 and 75 enough in the following two seasons, and 74, 78 and 72 the mark for making the top six since it last dipped below 70, Leicester City with 68 in 2012/13.

And in such a wide open, but outside the top four, average, division, it’s frustrating that Rovers, the Championship’s self-proclaimed most unpredictable team, couldn’t hold their form together when it mattered most.

Then comes ‘the reality’: Rovers are probably, give or take a point or place here or there, about where most thought they would be. That bracket between seventh and 12th feels about right for where they are in their development.

The signings made last summer have played their part to different degrees, but to turn a team fresh out of League One that finished 15th last season, to top six contenders, the transformation needed to be significant and spectacular, rather than solid.

As things stand in the Championship, the top two were beaten play-off semi-finalists last season, while among the play-off teams are two recently relegated Premier League sides.

Brentford have made the biggest jump, 11th to third, while Forest have risen from ninth to fifth, but there has felt a ‘usual suspects’ feel to Preston and Derby being in the mix once again.

Rovers are likely going to have to be on a similar journey, incremental improvements each year, but with the holes opening up in the squad, it will take some work this summer.

And on to ‘the future’.

Mowbray said ahead of the game that improving the options currently at his disposal could well be key, given the uncertainty over budgets for next season.

The inclusion of three players whose contracts expire at the end of the season in an unchanged team would suggest Mowbray would like to keep all three around.

But it was those used off the bench help turn the game, Sam Gallagher, Joe Rothwell, Lewis Holtby and Jacob Davenport, that will likely be in his thinking.

Whether it be injury, opportunity, or role in the team, they are yet to realise their potential, but showed positive signs here.

Rothwell scored with his first touch, calmly slotting in to the corner after good work by Gallagher who also teed up Davenport for the golden chance late on, only to be denied when one-on-one with goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

It was a first goal of the season for Rothwell, a player whose quality has been likened to the man currently lighting up the division, Said Benrahma.

Another player in the running for Championship player of the year is Mateus Pereira, and despite some theatrics, he was at the heart of all good things the Baggies produced. It was his unchecked run, albeit into an offside position that went unnoticed, that created the opening goal as Charlie Austin teed up Filip Krovinovic to volley them in to a 41st minute lead.

He hit the post early in the second half, after Walton saved from Pereira, with the Rovers ‘keeper also equal to long range efforts from Kamil Grosicki and Dara O’Shea, and from closer in from Austin.

Johnstone, at the other end, made a flying stop in first half injury time to deny Graham, but was grateful late on for the covering of Kyle Bartley to clear off the line from Holtby’s flick in a breathless finish.

Rovers have now played the top two teams in the division back-to-back at Ewood. They’ve been competitive, but what has been proven beyond doubt is that chances, when at a premium, must be taken.

Across the season they’ve had their opportunities, but will likely fall just short. And while there will be moments to reflect on what might have, what’s to come will require the most thinking. It's more important than ever that Rovers look forward, not back.