John Eustace felt Blackburn Rovers were worthy of a point at Swansea City but admitted a slow start proved costly.

Rovers are now just one point above the Championship relegation zone after falling to a seven defeat in league away games. The overall form is a run of two wins in 17 league matches which has seen them dragged into the scrap for survival.

Swansea were only below Rovers on goals scored ahead of kick-off but scored twice in 20 minutes to put themselves in control. Eustace’s side were sluggish at the start and gave away two poor goals which they couldn’t come back from.

They did improve in the second half and rallied for an equaliser after Sam Szmodics reduced the deficit. But in the end, it was too much of a mountain to climb and their fears about relegation have only increased.

READ MORE: Rovers ratings as Moran struggles in costly first half


"I am disappointed to lose the game," Eustace said.

"We started poorly in the first half and gave two really poor goals away on our part. That hasn't been like the boys since I have been in.

"I am disappointed with the way we started but we did grow into the game and still had three or four really good chances. We had opportunities where we should have scored and we need to be more clinical.

"In the second half, we made a few changes, we kept going. The character of the group was fantastic. We scored a good goal to get one back and we kept knocking on the door but we couldn't get the equaliser.

"It's normal, isn't it (to be tired)? Saturday as well we had a very difficult game against Norwich and the effort there was fantastic. On Tuesday against Newcastle, it was there for everyone to see.

"Although we started slowly this afternoon, I still felt we had two or three opportunities to score on the counter-attack. We didn't and the important thing was that we kept going.

"I thought we deserved a point at the end of the day."

"The Championship is relentless, we have to worry about ourselves and keep going," he added when asked about the relegation battle.

"We are focused on the next game, there are a lot of games to go.

“I have come in with us in a difficult position. The fight and spirit that the team have shown in the last six or seven games is there to see.

“We don’t give up. We’ve had some fantastic performances up to now, I feel. We just have to keep sticking together. The Championship has lots of highs and lots of slow.

“It is important you don’t get carried away in that. We will take each game as it comes, there are 11 games to go.”