Town and Blackburn remain locked at 0-0 at the break at Portman Road.
Skipper Luke Chambers, who signed a new contract on Friday, was a surprise absentee due to illness, with Christophe Berra taking over as skipper and Tommy Smith returning to the centre of the defence, unusually on the right of the pairing.
Daryl Murphy (achilles), Luke Hyam (hip flexor) and Teddy Bishop (ill) also missed out but Jonny Williams was OK to start despite suffering an ankle problem while away with Wales.
Stephen Hunt came into the side for the first time this season as part of a front three with David McGoldrick and Conor Sammon, while Williams was on the left of the midfield trio alongside Cole Skuse and Kevin Bru.
Former Blue Jordan Rhodes skippered the visitors, while former Town loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe was on the bench.
Aside from Dean Gerken clearing ahead of Rhodes on the edge of his area, neither keeper was tested in the opening 10 minutes. On 11 Lee Williamson saw a shot deflect wide off McGoldrick after a long throw had deflected out to him on the edge of the area.
On 13 a deft McGoldrick flick sent Hunt away on the left but the Irishman’s cross was behind Sammon. Bru won possession back and exchanged passes with McGoldrick but the Mauritian international’s cross was easy for Rovers keeper Jason Steele.
The Blues were starting to gain control of the game and in the 17th minute McGoldrick played in Mings on the left and September’s Championship Player of the Month sent over a superb cross to Jonny Parr deep on the right but the Norwegian screwed his volley high and well wide.
Rudy Gestede headed wide from a Craig Conway cross in the 24th minute as the visitors began to threaten.
Three minutes later, the Lancastrians were close to a goal when keeper Steele’s freekick was flicked on to Tom Cairney by Gestede. The former Hull man’s cross found Rhodes, but his effort was kept out by a combination of Gerken and Parr, who got in one another’s way, the ball somehow avoiding Shane Duffy at the far post and away to safety.
Williams touched a freekick short to McGoldrick on the left in the 33rd minute after Bru had been fouled, but the striker’s shot was held by Steele under pressure from stand-in skipper Berra.
Gestede threatened again on 36, twisting and turning before hitting a low shot which Gerken did very well to save down to his right.
The action quickly moved to the other end and McGoldrick forced Steele to punch into the air and wide with a curling left-foot strike from 25 yards. From the resultant corner Smith headed into the Rovers keeper’s arms.
The 0-0 scoreline at the break was a fair reflection of the first half overall. After a quiet start the Blues had begun to get on top but the visitors had come back into it again and had had the better chances.
Town: Gerken, Parr, Mings, Smith, Berra (c), Skuse, Bru, Hunt, Williams, McGoldrick, Sammon. Subs: Bialkowski, Anderson, Bajner, Tabb, Henshall, Clarke, Ambrose.
Blackburn: Steele, Marshall, Duffy, Kilgallon, Olsson, Cairney, Evans, Williamson, Conway, Gestede, Rhodes (c). Subs: Eastwood, Baptiste, Henley, Tunnicliffe, Taylor, Dunn, Varney. Referee: James Adcock (Nottinghamshire).