Valerien Ismael praises players after 10-man Rovers earn first win of his reign

Blackburn manager Valerien Ismael praised his side’s desire and passion as they ended their eight-game winless run and picked up the first victory of his reign by beating Luton 1-0 at Kenilworth Road.

Japan international Yuki Ohashi scored the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute to keep the visitors’ faint hopes of the play-offs alive despite playing the final half an hour with 10 men after Kristi Montgomery was sent off on his full debut for the club.

Ismael said: “First half we wanted to be really strong. We knew that we had to face the challenge here with a team fighting for surviving.

“They put a lot of balls into the box and we had to defend. We showed a lot of togetherness, a lot of support, in the transitions we didn’t play well, but the main focus was to stay strong.

“When you look at the last weeks we concede always in the first half which didn’t give us the chance to compete, so this was the first step we wanted to do in the game.

“After the red card it was another game, so another gameplan and it was about surviving in the game.

“The boys showed a lot of passion to defend, they wanted to win the game, a big desire.

“We were lucky for sure, you need that luck at some point, with two crossbars, but it doesn’t change the performance of the boys.

“Today, to come away in Luton, to have a clean sheet, down to 10 men, to win 1-0, I think it’s a massive reward for us as it’s not been easy when you’re not winning games.”

Luton’s five-match unbeaten run came to an end and this defeat, coupled with Derby’s 2-2 draw at Portsmouth, left them three points from safety with four games to go.

Manager Matt Bloomfield said: “I’m really bitterly disappointed and frustrated.

“It’s not the performance or the result that we wanted.

“We weren’t at our usual levels at what we’ve been recently. We’ve been on a good run, but today wasn’t that and we’re bitterly disappointed with that.

“I felt it quite early on in the game. I felt we weren’t just quite at the same intensity that we’ve been at recently so we’re going to have to go and look at that and to figure out the reasons why.

“It’s the same group of players who have been going game after game, so maybe that’s a contributing factor and maybe we’re going to have to consider that.

“It’s really bitterly disappointing as we’ve been in a good spot and that’s not the performance we wanted or needed today.”