BLACKBURN Rovers boss Gary Bowyer has vowed not to rein in his side’s attacking instincts in order to get the balance he recognises they must acquire.

Rovers are the fourth highest scorers in the Championship with 13 goals from their opening seven matches and no team has found the net more times in the division in 2014.

But, following Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat to Derby County, they have now gone 10 league games since their last clean sheet and only Huddersfield Town and today’s opponents Fulham (3pm) have conceded more goals since the campaign got under way.

Bowyer is fully aware that Rovers need to become harder to break down.

But he is adamant they can do that without putting the shackles on the creative and goalscoring talents of Tom Cairney, Craig Conway, Ben Marshall, Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede.

Bowyer said: “It’s up to us to try and piece everything together.

“We need to try and perform for a full 90 minutes, as at the moment we’re playing well in halves rather than putting a complete performance together, and we’re all working very hard to get that elusive first clean sheet.

“It’s about getting the balance right. We have a goal threat, we know that we can score goals, and that gives us massive confidence and belief that we will always stay in a game and be part of a game.

“But what we’ve got to do, from the front to the back, is work extra hard, do the basics right and get a clean sheet.

“It’s a collective effort – we have all got to defend better. We spoke about it after we debriefed the Derby game and everybody agreed.

“But we’re not going to sacrifice that for not going out and trying to play our game.

“We need to do the two and get consistency in both.

“We’ve got two strikers who are handful and the service we’ve got is magnificent so I want to continue that vein of attacking football and scoring goals.

“But at the same time I want us to work harder off the ball and make us difficult to break down and difficult to beat.”

Rovers had better balance against Derby after Ryan Tunnicliffe, who is on a season-long loan from Fulham, was brought off the bench.

But Tunnicliffe is ineligible to face his parent club at Craven Cottage today and Bowyer is also without another combative midfielder in Jason Lowe.

Lowe has missed the last two matches with a foot injury that will also him rule out of the clash with the Cottagers.

“I think Lowey’s energy and work-rate is something we’ve missed since he’s been out of the team,” said Bowyer, who will also be without Tommy Spurr, David Dunn and Chris Brown.

“He’s one of those players who people will appreciate more when he’s out of the team.

“I think Wednesday was a game that would have really suited him.”