Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson praised his side’s bravery after they survived a late Millwall onslaught to record a 2-1 win in the Sky Bet Championship.
After a first half lacking quality or entertainment, Blackburn burst into a deserved two-goal lead after Tyrhys Dolan punished a Millwall defensive lapse and Ben Brereton Diaz netted from close range.
Millwall, having offered little all game, scored with their first and only shot on target 15 minutes from the end thanks to Jake Cooper’s header and missed a number of late chances as Rovers held on.
It continued Blackburn’s impressive home record, which has seen them record five wins in seven games in all competitions this season at Ewood Park, and Tomasson was pleased with how his players stood up to the late pressure.
He said: “Excellent win to be honest. A pleasant performance.
“The first 70 minutes, they didn’t have a shot on target, we controlled the game. We could have scored more goals and (it was) great to see the boys have taken the things we’ve worked on in training into the game in that way.
“Of course, when we concede a goal it’s tough because it’s a very difficult opponent to play against. Those lads they have up front are quite tough, quite big, so I think we showed bravery as well, we stood up when we needed to be tough in your head. We coped with that challenge as well.
“It was a big fight and we controlled the fight. Dealing with those challenges, they are very good in the duels, winning those second balls, but the boys stood up for the challenge and we won it deservedly.”
Millwall have not won on the road for 11 games and their defence has become uncharacteristically leaky, conceding two in every away game this season.
Assistant manager Adam Barrett bemoaned the “gift” of an opening goal.
He said: “We came in 0-0 at half-time relatively pleased. I thought we had the better of the chances, but didn’t quite take them.
“But the real hard thing to take is it’s another error away from home that has gifted them the goal. That’s what it was, it was a gift.
“We’ve got to cut this out because there’s been too many away from home. Then you have an uphill task, it makes life difficult.
“But we got ourselves back in the game with Jake’s goal and then we had good opportunities at the end to nick a draw.
“But we have got to stop coming from one, two goals behind.
“We pride ourselves on our defensive record which has been very good over the last few years. We looked solid first half, don’t think they had an attempt at goal, or maybe one.
“But we have to cut these little errors out because we’ve gifted them a goal. We need a reaction now.
“It’s that little moment of concentration. At the moment, any lapse we are having, teams are punishing us.”
