Monday 18 August 2014 11:12, UK
Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer felt his side gave a performance to be proud of as Rudy Gestede's double handed them a 2-1 victory at Blackpool and their first win of the Championship season.
Gestede netted either side of half-time at Bloomfield Road, although Rovers were forced to sweat for 37 second-half minutes as Tomasz Cywka pulled one back for a fully-stocked Blackpool.
The hosts fielded a full squad for the first time this season but are still searching for their opening win, while Blackburn got their campaign up and running after starting with a draw and a cup defeat.
Rovers drew 1-1 with Cardiff last Friday and lost 1-0 to Scunthorpe in the Capital One Cup in midweek, and boss Bowyer believes they coped superbly with everything asked of them by Blackpool.
"It's very important to get that first win of the season. We weren't fooled by all the talk of the size of Blackpool's squad or anything like that," he said.
"We did well in the first half and played some nice football. And in the second we showed our resilience when Blackpool came back into the game, so we really showed all the sides to our game.
"Rudy took his goals really well. We got into the game and played off him in the first half out there. We couldn't do that quite as much in the second, but he got a second thanks to Craig Conway's superb cross.
"Blackpool came back into the game when they got their goal and the crowd really got behind them, but I thought we showed great character to hold firm and we still created a couple more chances towards the end of the match as well."
Blackpool have failed to get anything from their own three games to start the season, and boss Jose Riga knows there is plenty of work to do.
"We showed fighting spirit and at times quality in that match. Spirit and mindset are important attributes but the play and the way we do things to create opportunities is huge," he said.
"If we'd scored a second I don't think people could have complained. Physically we are not ready yet and we don't have enough players still, but the fans and the mentality of the players is good.
"Some players arrived only a couple of days ago and it's a difficult situation. This is our third game of the season and we've only had one friendly against a team who aren't at this level.
"We showed our players certain phases of play that we expected but we couldn't always adapt to that because they just haven't played with one another enough. But that will come, I believe it will.
"I need more players but I need quality and that is important."
