'To Blackburn fans, this will be a bumpy ride'

After the latest round of Championship games, it would now be a major surprise if the two clubs to join Sheffield Wednesday in League One next season are not from the five sides currently immediately above them.

Back-to-back wins followed Michael O'Neill's appointment as Blackburn head coach but one draw and three defeats in their past four games has left Rovers a point above the trap door.

His team now have nine games to salvage their second-tier status.

They were 90 seconds or so away from four straight defeats, had Hayden Carter's late header against Portsmouth not earned them a point last Saturday.

Make no mistake, they are in trouble – big trouble.

The performance against Oxford did not reflect a team fighting for their lives.

It was nowhere near the level required for the Championship, particularly in the first half. Chants of "you're not fit to wear the shirt" came from the away supporters.

A lack of leadership on the pitch, a formation that did not look particularly in sync from one side to the other, some defensive frailties and the absence of any real threat in the front line.

Two attempts on target, following one attempt on target on Saturday, is a far cry from O'Neill's first match in charge when they scored three on the road at QPR.

I said when Rovers made their managerial change that if they kept their go-to players fit, I thought they had enough quality to stay up.

The reality is they haven't kept them fit. And the proof has been in the pudding since they went out of the team.

From the 20-man squad that went to Loftus Road on Valentine's Day, they were without Sondre Tronstad, Lewis Miller, Andri Gudjohnsen, Connor O'Riordan and Kristi Montgomery at Oxford.

The loss of Tronstad is enormous and felt in every game. Miller is certainly someone you would look at in your dressing room and back to roll his sleeves up and give you absolutely everything.

Gudjohnsen, prior to his pre-Christmas injury, was a striker in form. Two of those three mentioned above have had season-ending surgeries, with Gudjohnsen soon to follow suit.

The squad is boosted by the return to fitness of captain Todd Cantwell and long-serving Scott Wharton. For me, both are in the best XI O'Neill has got.

It's a time for everyone to stand up and be counted. For every player to realise what relegation will mean for a club like Blackburn Rovers.

For those who have been around the block a few times, it is up to them to make the rest aware of the situation and how serious it is.

The remaining nine games include meetings with the top three and home matches against two of the five they are up against in the battle to survive.

Strap yourselves in; this will be a bumpy ride.