Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray says loss to Bristol City was ‘cruel’ on his players

Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray said the 1-0 defeat to Bristol City was “cruel” on his players.

His team had a series of glorious chances in the Sky Bet Championship contest but found Daniel Bentley in inspired form as he saved a second-half penalty from the returning Bradley Dack, as well as thwarting Darragh Lenihan and Reda Khadra, who also rattled the woodwork.

They paid a painful price through Andreas Weimann’s 92nd-minute volley – his 17th strike of the season – which leaves Blackburn with just one goal in nine and one victory in that time.

Rovers remain fourth but defeat seriously dents their promotion hopes, with teams outside the play-offs now within touching distance.

Their frustration boiled over after the winning goal, as the hosts’ goalkeeping coach Ben Benson saw red and Mowbray said after the game that the result was tough on his team.

He said: “The lateness of the goal, the stuff (that) went on before, the chances we had, obviously missed a penalty kick, again (for the) second time in a couple of weeks. It feels like a cruel game.

“It’s hard on the group really, you can see the drive in that team in the last half hour or so, the desperation to score a goal and yes, it feels pretty cruel – but there you go. We have to take it as professionals and get on with the job.

“I’m not sure they deserved to score but there you go, they got one and good luck to them.

“For us, we have to live with the fact that the statistics and history books show we didn’t score again for another game – and we have to take that on the chin.

“I thought the team worked really hard to try and score today. We had some chances. Lenihan had a free header from a corner, obviously we missed a penalty kick. On another day we win the game pretty comfortably but today we didn’t.”

The victory ends a run of three successive defeats for the Robins, who had not kept a clean sheet in 2022 before this game, and after ending an 11-game winless run on the road, Nigel Pearson praised his side’s discipline to stay in the game.

He said: “The thing I’m pleased about today is, even if we’d have lost that game, the characteristics that we need to be a better team were there on show.

“It was always going to be a tight game and I thought we showed a lot of discipline. We did things today which we’ve not done for a while and that is stay in tight games – and you’ve always got a chance of winning.

“Whether we’re lucky or not is irrelevant. We’ve had some good chances in the game, we’ve created some, as an away side, good situations.

“I haven’t seen the penalty, whether it was a penalty or not. Obviously the ref was under a bit of flak at that point, whether that makes it more easy or difficult to give it, I don’t know.

“But if Han-Noah (Massengo) pulled the shirt, it’s not an intelligent thing to do. But Dan (Bentley) saved it. We stayed in the game.”