Valerien Ismael wanted to give Rovers more “stability” with his tactical approach against Stoke City.
The head coach retained the 3-4-3 system which had finished the game at Derby County several days prior.
Dion Sanderson, Adam Forshaw and Todd Cantwell were called upon while Sondre Tronstad and Yuki Ohashi dropped to the bench following their returns from injury.
“I think it's all about giving some stability,” he told The Lancashire Telegraph. “We had a wide player who was injured so it was not that choice on the winger position, that is why we wanted more stability.
“I think that in the game we gave away a lot of balls, but it was our fault. It was not due to the opponent who tried to play around us.
“One of the mistakes led to the goal. The second half was much better - more belief, more desire, more positive play forward. This is actually what I expected from the game.”
Cantwell and Joe Rankin-Costello came closest to finding a breakthrough for Rovers, who didn’t create much in the final third outside of those two big chances.
That has been an issue at times this season, having scored the fewest goals of any side in the top half.
“I think we have two big chances in the game, in the first half and the second half,” the boss added.
“If you are ruthless and everything goes right, you score your goal and then you're back in the game. If you are not creating chances, then I would say it's something we really need to work on.
“I saw the big chances, I saw the danger. I saw the pressure we put. I think it was better than last week.
“At least we got that feeling until the end that we can score. Only the referee can stop the game, this is the feeling we need to get.”
