Jon Dahl Tomasson said a poor first half cost his side, and was left disappointed with their quality in possession, as their unbeaten run came to an end at Stoke City.
Ki-Jana Hoever scored twice in the first half, with Tyrese Campbell putting the Potters three goals to the good with 15 minutes to go.
Rovers launched an unlikely comeback with late headers from Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher, but those proved to be only consolations as Stoke held out for the win.
“First of all disappointed with the result of course,” Tomasson said.
“We brought a lot of fans and I’m disappointed for them.
“I hate losing, the players hate losing, fans hate losing, but we always knew it was going to be a tough game, as we know every game in the league is.
“Of course the first half cost us the game.
“The first 10 minutes we had two good opportunities to score.
“The second half was more how we’ve been playing in 2023, the only thing I can complain about regarding the second half is the third goal we gave away.
“The players showed great character to come back but disappointed with the first half.
“It’s a disappointed dressing room, which it should be, when you give away the game like we did.
“On the other hand, we have had a great run in 2023, that’s only the second goal we have lost even with the cup games, there will be ups and downs but of course we need a reaction at Ewood in midweek.”
Hoever put the hosts ahead in the 24th minute and added a second on the stroke of half time.
Both saw the right back steal in at the back post, unmarked, as Stoke took charge.
Tomasson felt Rovers should have had a penalty on the stroke of half time, as Sam Szmodics’ shot looked to have been blocked by Dwight Gayle’s hand.
And Tomasson said: “When you’re 2-0 down at half time, you know it will be tough to come back.
“At 3-0, I still think the lads believed and maybe we could have a penalty just before half time with the handball, and that would have been easier if it was 2-1 to get a bit of belief.
“The way we played the second half was good, but we can’t be satisfied with the first half, it wasn’t good enough.”
Tomasson has always maintained there would be difficulties along the way, despite the unbeaten run which had seen Rovers go unbeaten in their eight league games since the 4-0 defeat at Rotherham United.
“I’ve said from the beginning because it’s a great league with a lot of good players,” the head coach added.
“I’ve seen many games of Stoke so I know it was going to be a difficult game.
“On the other hand we should take that feeling with us that we can’t be happy with the first half and it hurts.
“There will be ups and downs and we should always think about the good things we have done in 2023.”
On what the issues were in the first half, Tomasson said: “When you are poor on the ball, very poor on the ball, it looks as though you are spread out as a team and late to every duel.
“That’s football and that’s what went wrong in the first half.”
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