John Eustace was strong in his defence of Blackburn Rovers’ away record after six games without victory on the road.
Rovers started the season with three credible draws but have then followed that with the same number of successive defeats. In that run, they were unlucky to lose at Watford and conceded late at Plymouth Argyle but were comfortably dispatched by Coventry City.
What is perhaps more of a concern than the performance levels is the lack of goals. It’s one in their last four and they haven’t created a vast amount of clear-cut chances across those games.
But Eustace is not concerned by the defeats because the performance levels are good, in his eyes. He reiterated that point on Saturday and insisted that there is not a big separation between their home and away displays.
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“1,400 fans came to support away from home today and I think we made their afternoon a good one even if the result wasn’t there. They can see the commitment, the desire was there,” Eustace said.
“The football was good at times, we played some exciting stuff. We’re making good steps forward. The results will turn. The performance was excellent with and without the ball, we're showing good signs.
“We’ve had one disappointing away game, every other away game has been good. We didn’t deserve to lose at Plymouth, we did well at Norwich, Burnley and Preston.
“We have to put things in perspective. Let’s not get disappointed, everyone might be saying ‘we can’t win away’ but it’s about the commitment and the performances have shown that, home and away.
“I don’t want to make a big thing about away from home. Home and away we have done very well. We have lost three games where today we didn’t deserve to lose.
"We did at Coventry. We’ve collected some good points at difficult places to go, local derbies. I am very pleased with the overall performance.
“We haven’t scored in those moments and so we have to move on. We’re looking at the performances and it’s a 46-game season. If we were losing week in, week out away from home and not being committed, I’d then be worried.
“Let’s not make a big thing about it at the moment. We have lost three in a row away, we have to get on with it. Today was an excellent performance.”
Rovers were not clinical at Vicarage Road and that proved their undoing, rather than any issues with the performance overall. The penalty decision also went against them, in Eustace’s eyes.
Andi Weimann had a golden chance minutes before the spot-kick but lobbed it over the bar when you’d have backed him to score. Eustace conceded that not being clinical was costly in the narrow defeat.
“Of course they are (the key moments). Andi has been a very good player for us. We have come to a good football club, coached very well, good players and held our own,” he said.
"You only get limited chances against good teams and you have to be clinical and we weren't enough today. We did more than enough to come away with at least a point.
“We had the best chances of the game, the referee cost us the result. One game out of six, we didn’t play well but we started this game very well and in other games as well.
“We try and start every game very well. It doesn’t always work. The opposition are also trying to start well and sometimes, you have to stay in the games. We could’ve scored, we had to stick with it at times because they played some good stuff too.
"We need to killers in the final third and players have to put the ball in the net. We're very good defensively so there are very good signs, home and away.
“We limited them to nothing and, as I’ve just said, the referee cost us some points today.”
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