Paul Warne admitted Blackburn Rovers' 'cheat codes' on the bench made the difference during their 4-2 victory at Ewood Park.

Derby County were put the sword on opening as Rovers scored three times in 12 minutes to race clear on Friday. The game was deadlocked after 70 minutes with Curtis Nelson cancelling out Tyrhys Dolan's opener.

The Rams were in the ascendency having just equaliser but a triple substitution from John Eustace made the difference. Andi Weimann, Sam Szmodics and Yuki Ohashi all scored and that quality from the bench tipped the game in Rovers' favour.

READ MORE: ROVERS BOSS PROVIDES LATEST ON SAM SZMODICS FUTURE

"I am pretty proud of the performance. I thought box to box we were really good," Warne told Derbyshire Live.

"In the first 10 minutes, we weren't. The pace and even their throw-ins were outstanding. They were switching the ball and getting out with their full-backs more than we would like.

"We had to tweak the way we pressed and our shape, and from about 15 to 20 minutes on we were really good. We created good opportunities without much cutting edge. I thought second half we looked like, after we equalised, we were going to win it.

"Prior to us scoring the equaliser, I don't think they even got in our box. I felt like we were in a good place and I felt like we would go on and win it, maybe naively.

"They changed it and brought on cheat codes all over the place. We looked a little bit leggy and it's my fault because I didn't make the subs quick enough. But I felt like I didn't need to. I need to watch it back and I just felt we gave the ball away unnecessarily, and at this level, you will get punished.

"I don't think it was a 4-2 game. I was proud of the lads, but while our box-to-box play was good it was without much cutting edge."