John Eustace admitted he was disappointed that Blackburn Rovers didn't put in more of a rallying effort in the final half-an-hour against Sheffield United.
Rovers fell to their first home defeat of the Championship campaign against the Blades. They were well beaten against one of the league's high-flyers and struggled to lay a glove on them in the final third.
Eustace's side ended the game without a shot on target in the match and never really looked like scoring. Particularly, after Tyrese Campbell doubled the lead on the hour.
But there was still, it transpired, 38 minutes left of the game and therefore plenty of time. Yet Rovers barely mustered a meaningful attack and seemed resigned to defeat from that point.
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Eustace admitted the last half hour and believed Sheffield United mastered the 'dark arts' to kill the game.
"We went 2-0 down and there was still a long way in the game to go," he told The Lancashire Telegraph.
"The next goal would have changed a lot of things but they managed the game very well. Very experienced, they went down and these are the things that experienced good teams do.
"As we started to get some good momentum, made the changes, there was a stoppage for six or seven minutes. It's something we have to learn from.
"I am not complaining about anything they did because that's good football management. It's something we are learning about all the time and today was a very good experience playing one of the top teams in the league.
"Sheffield United are a good team, we have spoken about that, they have good individuals. But that's them, I'm concentrating on ourselves and there is a lot to improve on.
"I've said we have to be better in that final third, we won the ball back a lot in that area, got into good areas but we weren't clinical enough.
"It's our first defeat at home and so it's important we bounce back on Wednesday in what is a big game."
Rovers have the opportunity to get back to winning ways at Ewood Park immediately as Stoke City arrive on Wednesday night. It's a game that Eustace feels needs a better result but wasn't concerned by the performance, up until the 60th minute.
"I think it's important we get a result. I think the performance was good up until they scored their second goal," he explained.
"I don't think there's an issue getting the ball into the final third but the final pass was the problem.
"I don't think the performance was anything to worry about. We have to learn from it, we're fighters in there. When we get disappointments, we go a goal down, two goals down, we learn to carry on doing what we do which is being competitive.
"That last half an hour was a bit disappointing but it's something we will learn from."
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