Blackburn Rovers manager Mark Hughes had no complaints about Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth. They came to Ewood Park to do a job, and they got this job done.
It was a bad end to what had been a disappointing week ultimately. The draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge the Saturday before looked to set up Rovers nicely for the UEFA Cup first round first leg tie with Larissa, but after a shock 2-0 defeat in Greece a response was expected in the League. However, another disappointing showing, which bar the opening 10-20 minutes Rovers were not really threatening at all saw them lose their unbeaten start to the Premiership season.
Hughes told the Official Blackburn Rovers Website: “We had a good opening period in the first 20 minutes and, if we’d have scored then, there’d have been a different pattern to the game.
“But we didn’t get the goal and, obviously, defensively we were very poor for their goal. From that point onwards, with Portsmouth a goal up, they had the perfect game-plan to see things through.
“They came here to frustrate us and they kept plenty of people behind the ball.
“In fairness to them, their back four was rock-solid and we didn’t really have the craft and the guile to draw them out and create enough chances to ask questions of them.
“So I’ve no complaints really. There wasn’t quite that intensity to our play, which we have come to expect at Ewood Park.
“That might have something to do with our game in Europe, but we don’t want to use that as an excuse.”
Rovers will now be hoping to bounce back against Birmingham City in the Carling Cup this Wednesday, something that Hughes, and the fans WILL be demanding from the players.
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