After being silenced on Friday, Jon Dahl Tomasson was allowed to speak to the media in the wake of Blackburn Rovers’ first home defeat to Queens Park Rangers in over 20 years, as the London side perfected a counter-attacking performance to leave Ewood Park, 2-1 victors. The Dane reflected on a miserable afternoon with RoversTV.
“Today’s a disappointing result. It’s always disappointing when you lose at home, especially a game like that, to be honest. I thought we started brightly and should have scored, but after that the level of performance was less than it was on Monday night in the win over Wrexham AFC. We played too slow and made it easy for Queens Park Rangers. When you play too slow, sometimes you make too many easy mistakes on the ball and get hit on the transition, which happened a lot today. I think the second-half was really good, if you remove the two goals we conceded, because they were moments that we should have done better in.
“I think the players showed great mentality and spirit to come back and reduce the deficit, and they tried everything to get a draw. We had two or three opportunities to grab the equaliser. I must give great credit to the fans who stuck with us and cheered us on. The fans know we’re in a difficult situation at the moment, of course it is, we all know that, but we’re disappointed to lose the game.
“Although it was very unlucky that their first goal hit the post and went in off (Aynsley) Pears, we should have done a lot better in the build-up to stop the shot in the first place. That is always the case when you concede goals, because you end up seeing where you should have done better in each individual situation. It’s the same when you score goals, because the opponent also lacks something; that’s football. We created plenty of chances to score and even win the game, but in the end, when you lose, you’re left disappointed because you want to give your home fans a good result.
“The timing of their second goal was a massive blow, but on the other hand, I thought the players stuck together, which was great to see. I thought the fans were behind the team, which was also great to see. We’re all disappointed, but on the other hand, the players showed great character. It was a terrible moment, but you can see that these boys are working hard for each other. It was great to hear the support from the stands, even after going 2-0 down. We all know that being a Rovers fan for the last decade hasn’t been easy, but it’s great to see that the fans remain behind the team.
“Every game is very important, but the difficulty with football and this great league is that you can win and lose every game. We need to stick together during tough moments, and you need the right mentality and spirit. I don’t think we can complain about that today.
“I was not pleased with the decision that didn’t allow me to speak to the press. That was a club decision. As a Head Coach, you should always be able to talk to the press, because we can’t keep the fans in the dark. I have ‘no comment’ as to why that decision was taken.”
