At the start of the weekend, only goals scored separated Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City. After half an hour in South Wales, the two teams looked poles apart.

It was another disappointing away day for Rovers’ loyal supporters, who have become used to watching their team suffer from travel sickness.

If Tuesday’s energetic, gutsy performance against Newcastle United injected belief back into the fan base, the first 30 minutes on Saturday went someway to sapping it back out.

The fear heading to Swansea was this could be a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’. Rovers put so much into the performance on Tuesday night, not just physically but emotionally and mentally too, that they might not be able to go again for a seventh time in three weeks.

READ MORE: Eustace delivers Rovers verdict and addresses relegation worry

That was exactly the case as a sloppy start to the match saw the game taken away from them. The goals were infuriating and Swansea took full advantage of more generous Blackburn defending.

Luke Williams’ side have hardly made the Swansea.com Stadium a fortress this season but they were all over Rovers like a rash from minute one. They pressed and harried, forcing Rovers to pass backwards and make mistakes. Throw in an early confidence-boosting goal and it was the perfect recipe for a home win.

The first goal had a hint of misfortune as the ball ricocheted off Andrew Moran and back to Przemylaw Placheta. However, the optics weren’t great as the young Irishman appeared to give up on the ball. From there, it’s a mess from Aynsley Pears and the defenders in front of him, who failed to clear their line and Joe Allen pounced.

The second was a nightmare for Moran again. The youngster took the ball under pressure, as he did impressively so many times on Tuesday, but Matt Grimes pounced. Three touches of the ball later and Jamie Paterson had jinked past Kyle McFadzean and made it two.

Rovers looked knackered, to put it bluntly. Eustace only made one alteration and, without trying to sound clever after the event, it wasn’t enough. Considering how well the substitutes contributed on Tuesday, I thought there’d have been more rotation.

It is a difficult balancing act between fielding the best team and keeping players fresh and fit. It is not a task anyone would envy with such a hectic schedule; a real baptism of fire for the new Blackburn Rovers boss.

Rovers improved after the first half hour and ended the opening 45 minutes the stronger side. They had half chances, one for Callum Brittain, two for Tyrhys Dolan, but the clinical touch was missing.

Game state played a part, of course. Swansea had a two-goal lead and were happy to protect it. Rovers had to commit players forward and the half-time switch to a back four was an indication of that.

The second half followed the same pattern. Rovers won the ball in some dangerous areas but they either turned the wrong way, overhit the pass or their touch was loose. In summary, that bit of quality was missing.

Even Sam Szmodics’ 25th goal of the season wasn’t enough to get them a point. Where would they be without him?

Worryingly, the current form line would suggest he might win the Golden Boot and record a second relegation on his CV. Two wins in 17 Championship games is relegation form, there is no getting away from it.

Rovers won their fourth away game on the spin in November. It beggars belief that seven defeats have followed in the next nine. Eustace may feel that Rovers did enough for a point, and on the balance of play he might be right, but they were soft in their own box and wasteful in the opposition’s.

It has left Rovers fans with the alarming feeling that this team is sleepwalking into League One. Only one point separates them and the relegation zone, albeit there are four teams below them and 22nd.

The problem for Rovers is everyone around them keeps winning. Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday have performed like top-half teams since their change of management last year. Millwall have won back-to-back games since Neil Harris returned and even Stoke City managed a victory against Middlesbrough.

The good thing is that two points separate seven teams. The bad news is that if Rovers’ form line doesn’t change, it will not take long before they are the team that drops into the bottom three.

Eustace has tried to play down the importance of next week’s matches but they have got to get some victories on the board. Both feel like must-win games, to be honest.

That is not just because of the position of their opposition but looking ahead to Rovers’ run-in. It is a nightmare with Leicester City, Leeds United, Ipswich Town, Southampton and Coventry City to come.

The winnable games, on paper, are running out. Millwall, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and, on current form, Middlesbrough away, are most likely to yield points. Then again, Rovers have failed to beat Huddersfield, twice, Rotherham and Queens Park Rangers during their run of two wins in 17.

Eustace is not the man responsible for this run of form. Rovers had won once in 11 outings when Jon Dahl Tomasson left the club. Take out Stoke City, technically not in the Eustace era, and he’s had five league games sandwiched in 19 days.

The problem is, mitigation won’t save Rovers from relegation. The head coach needs to find a way to get Rovers winning games. They have shown small signs of improvement, defensive and offensively, but rarely in the same games.

Marrying them together with little time on the training field is a thankless task. If they go down, he will not be the main culprit but he is the person tasked with saving them from that unthinkable fate.

Without your blue-and-white tinted specs on, the form line and situation point to one outcome. It is up to Blackburn Rovers to change that and fast.