Jon Dahl Tomasson allows in-form Blackburn to dream of the big time

Jon Dahl Tomasson says his Blackburn side will “keep on dreaming” after they trounced Stoke 3-0.

A fourth successive away victory and fifth win in seven league games sees Rovers close the gap on the Championship play-offs.

Scott Wharton’s precise header handed the visitors early control and a lead which they never relinquished.

Brighton loanee Andrew Moran followed up his earlier assist with a first EFL goal to double Blackburn’s advantage and the Championship’s leading scorer Sammie Szmodics added a stoppage-time third for his 11th goal of the season.

“It was a brilliant performance and a brilliant result,” said the Blackburn boss.

“We all know how good we can play football, but our discipline and defending were extremely good and very pleasing.

“We frustrated Stoke a lot; the defending, attitude and spirit were all great and we showed a high level of discipline for 90 minutes.

“They were not able to take a chance and when they came into the final third, the stop sign was there and we defended like warriors.

“We’re taking our chances too; if you looked at all our performances this season, we could have won every game.

“We’re the team in the league who create the most chances and today we took our chances really well.

“We needed that break to recharge their heads and bodies, and you can hear how happy our fans are in the end and that says everything.

“We try to perform the best we can; we know we’re a young squad and that sometimes we’re lacking experience.

“Our CEO Steve Waggott said our target first of all was to stay in the league after the cutting of the budget.

“We’re allowed to dream of course and the fans, players and I will keep on dreaming about something big.”

It was a dismal afternoon for Stoke as their five-match unbeaten run was ended with a whimper.

The Potters, who had not conceded in over seven hours prior to the tie, looked fragile defensively and failed to convert their possession into chances.

“I don’t think the game was a 3-0 game,” Alex Neil said.

“For the first 15 minutes, they caused us an issue but after we fixed it, there wasn’t a problem from that point.

“The first goal is so disappointing because they’ve only scored one goal from a corner this season.

“After 15 minutes, I thought we started to take control of the game but the biggest difference was that they put the ball in the net and we didn’t.

“And the third goal makes the scoreline look much worse than what it actually was.

“They’ll be frustrated in the fact that I don’t think they’ll feel that they were outplayed. It was arguably just three or four moments that we didn’t deal with. We just didn’t defend those moments well enough.

“It’s a sore one because there’s been a lot of good things in the last five games.

“Today, you don’t want to send the fans home frustrated, disappointed and angry and ultimately that’ll be the case.”