John Eustace praised the quality of summer signing Andreas Weimann after his wonder strike rescued a point for Blackburn against Burnley in the east Lancashire Derby.
The hosts dominated the match creating by far the greater chances after taking the lead through Lyle Foster.
But Weimann’s second goal of the league campaign, a 25-yard effort into the top corner, ensured the points were shared despite Rovers playing the last half hour a man down after Makhtar Gueye saw red.
“That is why we brought him in,” said Blackburn manager Eustace when asked about Weimann’s strike. “It doesn’t matter how old he is (or) how young he is when you have a player of that quality.
“Everyone can see the impact he has had on and off the pitch. We are very fortunate that he decided to sign here.”
Veteran Weimann, 33, signed from West Brom in the summer and has scored three goals in both league and cup competitions.
Eustace admitted after Gueye’s rash action to brandish an imaginary yellow card in the referee’s direction after he was fouled by Maxime Esteve, the team’s defensive resolve made him proud.
“All I would say is I am proud of the whole squad,” he said. “To come here against a very good team of excellent players and a really good manager and play our way. The way we stuck together.
“Makhtar has got to learn that he can’t raise his hands (and) put a yellow in front of the referee but the referee has missed a blatant yellow himself (for the foul on him) so I think it was a little bit more frustration.
“Disappointing but the way the lads battled and looked after each other today was what Blackburn Rovers is all about.”
Burnley boss Scott Parker felt his side were value for all three points and finished feeling disappointed they had only managed a draw.
Foster’s opener after 10 minutes could have been added to with the American hitting a post and heading narrowly wide.
Weimann’s wonder strike from a long ball and knock down stunned Burnley after 23 minutes and even with a man advantage for the final 33 minutes, the Clarets were unable to find a second goal.
“We are disappointed,” said Parker. “Obviously we came into the game wanting to get three points and we have not achieved that so there is frustration. But there were a lot of positives.
“We started the game very very well, dominated the game and went ahead which was deserved. Their goal comes out of nothing even if it was a world-class finish.
“That probably just jabbed us a little bit in that moment. The sending off changed the dynamics a little bit for us. We didn’t really break that down. Overall while we are disappointed, there were some real positives.
“We could have controlled it a little bit more. We just became a little bit predictable.”
