Jon Dahl Tomasson was unsure whether Blackburn Rovers should've had a penalty for handball against Leeds United but dismissed their appeals for a foul on Jake Garrett.
Rovers were beaten 2-0 by Leeds United at Ewood Park with goals from Dan James and Crysencio Summerville securing the points for the visitors.
Tomasson's side matched Leeds for large portions between both boxes but Leeds' superior quality in the 18-yard area proved decisive in deciding the destination of the points.
Blackburn had two penalty shouts turned away by referee Bobby Madley. The first was when Pascal Struijk slid in and handled the ball and the second was when Garrett went down in the box late on.
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Tomasson was unsure whether the handball decision was correct but admitted the officials made the right call on the Garrett appeal.
"I don't know about the handball, I haven't seen it back," he said. "I thought the challenge on Garrett wasn't a penalty. "I didn't think so, the other one, I don't know."
On the performance overall, Tomasson felt his side matched the automatic-promotion hopefuls for large periods. He agreed that the difference was Leeds' quality on the counter-attack and their clinical edge in front of goal.
Leeds retreated into their own half for much of the second half and were happy to let Rovers have the ball. They only needed one opportunity and pounced through Summerville to make sure they went back down the M62 victorious.
Arnor Sigurdsson was the only player to really test Illan Meslier with a late header, despite having the majority of territory after half-time. Tomasson felt that was against the difference in quality between the two squads.
"We are extremely disappointed to lose the game," Tomasson said. "Overall, it was a brilliant performance from my team.
"They have a very good squad, a Premier League squad with a lot of good players. We all know how good Leeds are in transition, both goals came in those transition moments.
"The difference was the clinical things, we got into better positions than the opponents against a very good side. I think we did a good job.
"We shouldn't forget they are very good. I said before the game that I think they will get automatically promoted and they should as well.
"We know how difficult it is to cope with those transition moments with the quality that they have. I thought we were in the game for a long time, we were the better team in the second half.
"Sigurdsson had a good header which the goalkeeper saved. I thought we got into good areas but we didn't quite connect in the final third. We had plenty of those moments but they were more clinical and that is their quality."
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