BLACKBURN finished what has been a largely disappointing season on a high with a 5-2 dismantling of Birmingham City on Saturday.

An Adam Armstrong hat-trick plus goals from Ben Brereton and Harvey Elliott showed what Blackburn should have been capable of throughout the season had they been able to turn possession and attacking play into goals on a more regular basis.

Birmingham took an early lead through Kristian Pedersen and then equalised in the second half though Lukas Jutkiewicz after an Armstrong penalty and Brereton’s goal on the stroke of half-time had given the home side the lead.

But two second-half goals from Armstrong, which saw him finish second in the Championship goalscoring charts behind Ivan Toney, and a neat finish from substitute Elliott saw Rovers cruise to victory in the end.

There was an eye to next season in Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray’s team selection, especially with the inclusion of Jacob Davenport and John Buckley.

“Both Buckley and Davenport did good — John should have scored as well,” Mowbray said after the game.

“Davenport did what he did — he’s efficient and keeps the ball moving. He has attritional attributes and silky attributes.

“He has had a lot of injury problems, and the aim for him is to stay fit and to stay robust.”

With a number of players’ contracts set to expire, and several loan deals coming to an end, Blackburn could be set for a complete rebuild ahead of next season.

They will hope to extend the contracts of a handful of key players, and maybe even secure repeat loan deals for the likes of Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who has been impressive alongside captain Darragh Lenihan in defence.

Elliott is ready for top-flight football though. Whether that is with Liverpool, another Premier League club or elsewhere in Europe remains to be seen.

There will also be interest in Armstrong, so this will be a big summer for Blackburn’s recruitment team.

Despite the failure to reach the play-offs, ending the season on a high was important.

“We’ve now scored five goals in each of our last two home games,” added Mowbray.

“We should have scored five at Rotherham as well, but the team are functioning very well again, playing with a bit more fluency and scoring goals.”