Blackburn Rovers boss has say on match-changing Portsmouth penalty incident in reverse

The Rovers head coach acknowledged the Blues could feel aggrieved over referee Farai Hallam not awarding a second-half spot-kick for a foul on Callum Lang.

Lang was taken out in the second half moments before Callum Brittain rifled in his side’s second goal at Ewood to floor John Mousinho’s side, in the 3-0 reverse. That made it six away defeats on the spin for Pompey, as they remained in the Championship’s bottom three.

Mousinho was fuming at the decision from the referee, especially with his assistant stating he felt keeper Aynsley Pears’ challenge was a penalty - and Eustace acknowledged his counterpart could be aggrieved at Hallam not pointing to the spot.

He told the Lancashire Telegraph: ‘It could've quite easily been a penalty, for sure. Over 46 games, you get your rub of the green and decisions for and against. We were probably a bit fortunate not to give the penalty away.

‘We reacted though and scored a great goal and killed it off. We have been on the other end of poor decisions and it levels itself out. We got away with a lucky call but we deserved to win the game.’

Eustace sent on sub Makhtar Gueye to fire his side up, as he header set Rovers on the road to three goals in 15 minutes as Pompey collapsed in familiar fashion on the road. That ended a run of five Championship games without success to kickstart his side’s play-off ambitions.

Eustace said: 'The aim is always to win the game and it was a difficult one. Portsmouth are a tough team to play against. They made it difficult for us. We had good moments in the first half but we got sloppy.

'We spoke at half-time about needing one moment of quality to win the game and the goal we scored was very good. We thought we could hurt them and it happened with that goal.

'There was big pressure on the boys to win the game and I'm delighted that we did. As the first half went on, they frustrated us but we told them to keep their head. We knew we'd have a piece of quality to win the game.

'We have scored 10 goals from substitutes and the build-up for the goal was very good. Makhtar didn't need much persuasion to go on, he was pretty peed off he wasn't starting and that's the reaction I want.

'Makhtar was disappointed not to start but I felt Andi's movement could hurt their defenders. It did, at times, but we lacked his physical presence. When he came on, he made a big difference.

'It's the best half an hour he's had for us. I might have to leave him out more to get performances like that. He's growing into the league, he's settling in. He has a big heart and he wants to do well. He's had difficult moments but I'm delighted he scored such a brilliant header.'