Rovers fell to a 1-0 defeat to their East Lancashire rivals, Burnley, on Tuesday night, as Jon Dahl Tomasson took heart from Rovers’ fine display, despite being unable to take the points.
“Everybody’s disappointed. It’s a disappointing result in a massive game with a great atmosphere against our rivals, Burnley, who are a good team. We looked the better side tonight, despite their financial advantage and their league position. We were on the front-foot, we pressed well and played some really good football. Before they scored their goal which was full of individual class, they didn’t have one shot on goal, which says a lot about the way we defended. I have to give credit to the lads for their overall performance. We played well without reward, but it’s disappointing that we conceded in such a big game, but it was a goal of quality.
“I haven’t complained a lot about referees this season, but we’ve had a few nightmarish decisions this season. The handball for Coventry’s equaliser, and now the penalty appeal we had today in added time. The referees need to get these big moments right. We should have had a penalty at the end. I haven’t seen the potential red card that people are telling me about, but the mistakes are extremely expensive, and the linesman should really see it from his position.
“The officials should be getting these big decisions right at this level. Both the incidents I’ve mentioned have come at crucial times in big games, which makes it even more important for referees to get them right. Despite that, we have to give enormous credit to our players because they played an excellent game. We’ve had an excellent season in the league and in both the League Cup and FA Cup, now we need to continue playing our great football and go again against Luton Town on Monday. We are allowed to be disappointed tonight, but we will be back towards the end of the week, fresh and ready to try and win on Monday.
“It might sound a bit crazy when I’m talking positively about the performances, but we’re not getting the result or the points to match, especially when you’re used to winning like me, but I know that everyone has seen the great performance that we’ve put in against a side who will be playing in the Premier League, next season.
“The players are frustrated and disappointed, as they should be. They have been playing excellently and they’ve had big decisions go against them. The atmosphere tonight, was brilliant. The only thing I’m disappointed with, from tonight’s display is that we couldn’t give the fans some goals and three points to celebrate, which they deserve. When you have the togetherness, we have with the fans and are performing how we have been, you get even more disappointed when you don’t win the game.
“Both teams defended well today, but there was a need for a bit of quality in the final third. We must admit that their goalscorer (Manuel Benson) came off the bench. They had three strikers and a winger on the bench and he managed to impact the game. He reminded me of Arjen Robben, who used to score similar goals. Everyone says that those types of goals are easy to defend, but as we have seen, they are not.
“We know that the attack is a position that we are stretched in. It is obvious to everyone connected with Blackburn Rovers, but the players we have fit and available will give everything they have, myself included, in the last remaining games to try and get into the playoffs. We can’t talk about the final game of the season at Millwall, before we play Luton Town on Monday. We will focus on trying to beat Luton with a pleasing performance similar to the one we saw today.”
