John Eustace has insisted the first priority for Blackburn Rovers is points on the board as he targets a quick run to 50 points.

The head coach oversaw his first match in charge of Rovers on Tuesday night, a 1-0 defeat to former club Birmingham City.

After a morale-boosting victory at the weekend, Rovers struggled to replicate their effective, more direct, style of football and were comfortably second-best at St Andrew's. Eustace agreed with post-match assessments that Rovers didn't show enough quality on the ball to impose themselves.

The 44-year-old has only had an hour on the training pitch with his team and with such a busy schedule, time on the grass will be limited. It's therefore imperative that everyone remains patient.

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Eustace made clear that results are the priority for Rovers to alleviate any lingering fears about a relegation battle. He sent a clear message to his group at full-time not to be overly negative with another important Championship clash against Preston North End looming large on Saturday.

"We had 45 minutes on the grass yesterday for the first time. It is going to take time," he said post-match.

"We haven't got much time on the grass, we have a lot of games coming up. Six or seven in 23 days, whatever it is.

"It's about making sure the group isn't too downhearted about it. We win lose and draw together, that's what we'll be working on.

"We need to not be too disappointed about the game. We have a couple of days of training coming up and it's important the lads aren't too disappointed with the defeat.

"You play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday. You can't get too high with the wins and you can't get too low with the losses. It's about keeping level-headed. 

"The aim was to get as many points as possible. We want to get to 50 points quickly and that's what we're aiming to do."

Rovers have now lost their last six Championship away matches. They had conceded 17 goals in their previous five before a one-goal defeat at St Andrew's.

Whilst Eustace acknowledged that Rovers didn't play as he'd have liked on the ball, he reiterated the necessity of shoring the team up defensively to give them a chance of getting results.

"It's about learning about the group, the right times to play and when not to play. It's important to get results," he explained.

"It's a results game at the end of the day. We want to get as many points as we can quickly. It's a fantastic three points on Saturday and we want to get to 50 points as quickly as we can.

"We need to be better with the ball under tough pressure, coming to a fantastic club like this. In the difficult times, the boys have to be more composed on the ball and we need to be better.

"The boys know that and that's the conversation we had in the dressing room. The lads led that, they agreed we had to be better with the ball and they were all disappointed.

"I said to them, there are times when you don't play well and you come in and it's nil-nil. You have to keep doing the basics very well. The boys in there are a young group, they are learning week in, week out. 

"Over the last five, six, seven away games they have conceded a lot of goals so it's important we change that mentality and we get better.

"It's important to stop losing games and stop conceding goals. The lads in there, the style of play is excellent. The lads play some very good football, albeit they didn't showcase it tonight."