Leeds boss Daniel Farke refused to blame the officials after his side left Ewood Park empty-handed.

Todd Cantwell stuck away a penalty in the first half after Tyrhys Dolan went down under Ao Tanaka’s challenge.

It was also suggested that Dolan could have faced a more severe punishment for his late tackle on Junior Firpo after the break, but Farke didn’t want to look for “excuses” as his side missed a chance to return to the top of the Championship table.

“I am not the type of guy who sits here after a loss and asks for red cards,” he said after the final whistle.

“Everyone can watch it and see for themselves, it is not up to me. Otherwise, it just sounds like asking for excuses.

“It sometimes feels a bit harsh. I think we should have defended the situation better (for the penalty).

“In the Championship we have no VAR so they sometimes give wrong throw-ins against the team chasing the game when the other is trying to waste some time.

“Some other big decisions are not right. Sometimes it is difficult to accept but we are not out for excuses.

“If they were wrong decisions or situations… I want to concentrate on what we could have done better.”

The Leeds boss felt that his side’s “slow start” ultimately cost them and knew it would be tough after going behind.

"Congratulations to Blackburn. They had the better start and that was decisive, they deserved it,” he said after the final whistle.

“We started too slowly and gave away too many unnecessary free-kicks. The penalty was more or less the same situation.

“I don't want to be too critical so lazy is too harsh, but we did not go in for the duels properly. We should have been more on it in the first half and should have been quicker in the head.

“Blackburn were perhaps not the most dangerous team because we had moments to score, but the reason we went behind is because they were able to use their situations.

“The second half would always be difficult against a good home side who, with a game in hand, sit near the top six.

“They had less load than us in the last two weeks, it was our third game in six days. But I don’t want to search for excuses, the slow start was why we lost the game.”