The two transfer fees Rovers spent in the transfer window came on goalkeepers as Tony Mowbray identified the need to strengthen between the sticks.

Around £650,000 was the outlay on bringing in Thomas Kaminski from AA Gent and Aynsley Pears from Middlesbrough, while Antonis Stergiakis arrived on a free from Slavia Sofia.

Rovers turned to Europe for their new No.1, signing Belgian Kaminski and added competition with 22-year-old Pears and 21-year-old Stergkiakis who both agreed long-term deals.

Kaminski has kept four clean sheets in seven matches this season, but is an injury doubt for tonight’s game with Reading after picking up a groin injury in the closing stages of the 4-0 win at Coventry.

Mowbray hopes to have the 28-year-old available, and while his preference would be to stick with Kaminski, the manager has full faith in Pears should be required against the league leaders.

Pears has experience in the Championship, having played 25 times for Middlesbrough before his departure, leaving Mowbray happy with the options available.

“That was the plan at the start of the window to make sure we addressed that situation and we worked really hard to get the goalkeepers we got in the end,” he said.

“Thanks to the owners for supporting the situation and the decisions we made, and Stuart Harvey and his recruitment team need huge compliments, an amazing amount of work goes on behind the scenes, particularly with the foreign players we signed, contacting clubs and speaking to sporting directors, agents and try and get things sorted with the opposition club.

“All of those things, there’s a lot of work goes in and I’m busy preparing the team for the next game so the recruitment department has done a lot of amazing work.

“I think the goalkeeping department and I’m looking forward to seeing Aynsley as and when his opportunity comes for him because he’s a wonderful character.

“We’ve worked really hard to try and put the right people in the right positions at this football club and the group are really strong and solid.”

Andrew Fisher was allowed to leave as a result of the goalkeeping additions, the 22-year-old Academy graduate joining MK Dons on a permanent deal, making his league debut in the weekend defeat at Blackpool.

Kaminski has cemented his spot as No.1, and it’s for that reason Mowbray is hopeful he will be available for the visit of the Royals tonight.

That cause is boosted by the fact he trained yesterday, but Mowbray added: “It’s a very minor injury, if it is an injury.

“We’ll have to decide whether we want to take the chance with him or whether it’s a chance for Aynsley to play between the sticks.

“I know what my preference would be and that’s to keep Thomas going. He’s had four clean sheets in seven games so we’ll see after training.

“He hasn’t got a major injury, just slightly tweaked something in his groin.”

Kaminski has made a bright start to life in English football and was this month called up to the Belgian national team squad for games against England and Iceland.

Mowbray credited the recruitment team with work behind the scenes on learning more about Kaminski’s character, and added: “He’s a very bright, intelligent guy, very open. He wants to talk to you.

“I’ve talked in the past about the booths we created and Thomas spends a lot of time looking at his clips and his starting positions, his distribution and his body shape.

“It’s a pleasure to work with footballers who are actually very conscious of their careers and want to improve and get better every day, and Thomas falls into that category.

“He’s a good man, a good human being who works extremely hard along with Ben Benson who’s doing a great job with him.

“It seems we’ve made a really good choice with the goalkeepers we’ve recruited and only time will tell, we need to see them in more adversity, when a bad error occurs which they do, and they can, and how they react to them.

“But at the moment it looks really positive.”