Blackburn Rovers’ substitutes have given John Eustace a selection decision after their defeat at Plymouth Argyle.

Rovers suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in 2024 and therefore also in Eustace’s time as head coach.

They weren’t at their best at Home Park and lacked any real spark until the cavalry arrived on the hour-mark. Todd Cantwell was the first to be introduced whilst Joe Rankin-Costello and Amario Cozier-Duberry also impressed when they arrived 10 minutes later.

Cantwell was taken out whilst Rovers managed his minutes. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get a run of starts after another two weeks of training during the international break.

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For the other two, they’re pushing to be included against Swansea City after their performance. Rankin-Costello played at right-back, something he hasn’t done under Eustace, and hasn’t begun a league match since Burnley.

Cozier-Duberry has been limited to appearances from the bench but put his hand up to start at Ewood Park on October 19.

Eustace was pleased with the impact those players made and also defended the suggestion they lacked creativity until their introduction.

“Yeah they did (do well), they’ve put themselves in my thoughts,” he told The Lancashire Telegraph.

“I think we had a game plan of how we wanted to play. Plymouth play a very expansive way of football and they’re very good at it. I thought we limited them in the first half, we won the ball back on a number of occasions in their half.

“We didn’t look after the ball well enough. They had a few good breaks after half-time and Aynsley made a few good saves. We were always going to make the changes on 60 minutes. They were very positive changes and I felt it gave us a foothold in the game.

“I felt from there we could go on and win. We missed that bit of quality and we have to work on that in the international break.”

A lack of pace in the forward line has been a constant issue for Rovers teams of the past. The balance of the current set-up still lacks that same dynamism.

It’s something that both Coventry and Plymouth had on either flank and that caused real issues. When the subject of pace was put to Eustace, he chose to steer the focus on the positives
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“Yeah maybe. But we’ve lost two games in nine,” he said. 
“It’s important we don’t get carried away, disappointed and negative about things. We’ll keep working on the training field and working hard.”