Rovers comfortably beat Luton Town 2-0 on Saturday to extend an outstanding winning run. John Eustace has now joined an esteemed group of Rovers managers to have recorded six league victories in a row.

In a recent Lancashire Telegraph column, Ian Herbert identified that Rovers were becoming a modern-day Howard Kendall team: efficiently grinding out victories based on a stingy defence.

Rovers have also produced remarkable runs of four successive 1-0 wins (for the first time in club history) and five clean sheets, almost as homage to the 1979/80 promotion season.

Kendall recorded a club record EIGHT successive league wins during the spring of that season. The latter six of those results are uncannily similar to the current run, including five successive clean sheets.

Eustace now has an opportunity to equal Kendall with wins against Millwall (1-0!) and Sunderland (3-0!). Kendall actually managed six clean sheets in row at the end of 1980/81, although three goalless draws ultimately cost Rovers a second successive promotion (if you’re not blaming Preston). 

Peculiarly, a large proportion of the six-match streaks have come in the lead-up to Christmas.

Tony Mowbray achieved it twice – once in 2021/22 soon after the 7-0 hammering by Fulham; and once in the League One campaign. Rovers had a great chance to make it to seven in December 2017, but Marcus Antonsson’s tame late penalty at Northampton resulted in a draw.

Johnny Carey, Bobby Saxton and Graeme Souness have also recorded a perfect six, while Jackie Bestall, Don Mackay and Kenny Dalglish (twice) made it seven up.

Dalglish’s seven successive victories in the 1994/95 title-winning season ended with a surprise 0-0 stalemate at second-bottom Leicester City exactly 30 years ago.

As for consecutive away wins, only one manager has achieved more than the current sequence four: yeah, it’s obviously Howard Kendall again. The legendary player-manager produced a remarkable SEVEN successive league wins on the road from January to April 1980.

Plenty of others have made it to four, but the sequence has tended to always stop at that point. Onwards to Millwall for a fifth then!

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