A DISAPPOINTED Mark Hughes admitted Blackburn Rovers simply never got going as their five-game unbeaten run came grinding to a halt at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.

Robbie Keane's goal in the 56th minute ultimately proved decisive as Rovers slumped to their second home defeat of the season.

And there were few positives for Hughes to take from a game that Rovers never looked capable of winning.

"We didn't start at the right tempo and if you don't come out and really try and drive the game and set the tone for the match then it's difficult to pick it up once it's in progress," said the Blackburn boss.

"In saying that, I felt there was a period where we picked it up a little bit and we were just starting to cause them a few problems when we had a lapse at the back.

"It was a terrible goal for us to concede. There were too many consecutive errors, we didn't really deal with it at source, and it cost us the game.

"It was always going to be difficult to come back once they got their noses in front because they got plenty of people behind the ball, they went to five at the back, and we didn't have enough imagination and guile to create enough clear-cut chances to get back into the game.

"We had a few half chances but nothing really clear cut so it's disappointing."

Rovers had gone into the game on a high following last week's excellent 2-0 win at Fulham - a result which lifted them out of the bottom three and stretched their unbeaten run to five matches.

However, they failed to carry that momentum into this game and Hughes was particularly disappointed by the lack of cutting edge displayed in the final third.

"It was a frustrating night for us," said the Rovers boss.

"We went into it on the back of a good spell of form but in all honesty we didn't perform.

"I was disappointed by our range of passing and our selection of passes and we didn't have enough imagination to create enough chances.

"We needed someone to get on the ball and create something but we weren't able to do that.

"We needed to get out wide and we needed to have more overlaps but we didn't see any of that.

"When you're in a position like that you need the players to grasp the situation and try and force the issue but they were unable to."

Rovers have now won just five of their last 27 home games in the Premiership and Hughes recognizes the need to give the fans more to celebrate at Ewood Park.

"In all honesty, we didn't give the fans a great deal to cheer," added the Welshman.

"They were really desperate for us to have a passage of play so they could get behind us but it didn't materialise and it was very stop-start and a poor game for a number of reasons."