Tony Mowbray admitted Blackburn were ‘well below par’ against Oldham on Saturday and have to show much improvement going forward.
Oldham’s continued upturn in form and fitness carried on when caretaker Richie Wellens recorded a fourth victory in as many games when Rovers were beaten in added time.
Blackburn should have been ahead in the first half when Elliott Bennett went around the Oldham goalkeeper but couldn’t convert form six yards – Peter Whittingham was denied by the crossbar from 25 yards too.
With the game destined to end in a goalless draw Queensy Menig came off the bench to win it for the Latics in the 90th minute.
Mowbray was disappointed with a lack of creativity and thought the defenders ‘got bullied’ at times, which resulted in us getting what we deserved.
‘Obviously, we were well below par. I thought we could have played until next weekend and not scored a goal. Creativity in the final third was really poor; we can’t keep a clean sheet and try to scrape a win every week, we have to be better than that,’ he told the Official Website.
Adding: ‘I thought the defenders got bullied a little bit, their strikers caused us some problems and we didn’t cause them any. We got what we deserved. It was really frustrating, both for us and the thousands of supports who have paid to be here. I wouldn’t question the players’ desire, I thought that was there, we were desperate to get a result.’
Oldham’s own performance was praised and Mowbray knew the Latics ‘have talented footballers’ but he would always expect more from his own players.
Mowbray concluded: ‘We have to be miles better if we think we’re going to find the consistency to stay at the top. We have to be better than we showed today. Injuries are part of the game and we have to put up with it. But we have to be better, I’ve said that to the players, so we’ll see if we can do that moving forward.’
