Blackburn Rovers: ‘John Eustace frustrated but all to play for’

Almost a year into his Blackburn reign, John Eustace was, visibly, as frustrated as he’s been since taking the job by Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at QPR – a result that leaves his side still in the top five but having played more than the chasing pack.

A team that won six on the bounce before Christmas has now won two of their past 11 in the Championship, a run that has angered the head coach, who is the first to always back his players publicly.

“To lose in the manner we did with another soft goal was very disappointing,” Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire.

“We’ve got to put our bodies on the line to keep the ball out of the net.”

The defeat was Rovers’ 12th of the league season. The four clubs above them in the table have lost a combined 14. West Bromwich Albion, a place below them, have lost six but drawn more than double the number of games Rovers have.

The two sides meet next week with Tony Mowbray and Adam Armstrong up against their former club.

The lack of draws has been key of late. In their past two away games, Blackburn have responded to being a goal down by scoring the next one, but have conceded again at pretty much the same time in both – with 13 or 14 minutes to go.

A point at Bristol City and QPR would have been more than acceptable on the face of it, having won the home games against both earlier in the season.

It’s also the manner of goals going which has been cause for concern. In the past five games (W1 L4), you could argue at least four, if not more, of the goals were soft. Deflections you can’t do a lot about, but others have been a bit of a head scratcher.

Eustace knows things have to improve at both ends to stand a chance of securing one of those play-off spots.

“We’ve got to defend the box better and be more clinical in the final third because we still had two or three great chances,” Eustace said.

“We need to improve if we’ve got any aspirations of trying to get into the top six. We need to be better than we have been.”