Jon Dahl Tomasson rued Blackburn’s slow start as they fell to a 3-2 Sky Bet Championship defeat at Stoke.
Rovers’ late fightback proved to be in vain as they failed to close the gap on the automatic promotion spots.
A Ki-Jana Hoever double in the first half and Tyrese Campbell’s late effort looked destined to hand the Potters a comfortable victory.
However, late Ben Brereton-Díaz and Sam Gallagher headers handed the visitors a lifeline to set up a dramatic finish.
But it proved too late for Blackburn as their 11-match unbeaten run ended with a first defeat since mid-January.
“I’m really disappointed,” Dahl Tomasson said.
“I hate losing, the players hate losing, the fans hate losing. We always knew it was going to be a tough game and the first half cost us the game.
“The second half is more like what we’ve been playing in 2023 and the only thing I can complain about is the third goal, which we gave away.
“The players showed great character to come back, but it’s a disappointed dressing room, which it should be when we gave the game away like we did.
“When you’re 2-0 behind at half time, it’s tough to come back, but even at 3-0, the guys believed still.
“Maybe we could have had the penalty before half time with the handball – that would have been easier if it was 2-1.
“Credit to the players, who kept on believing, and scoring two goals away is not that bad, but of course we’re disappointed
“We should take the feeling with us that we can’t be happy with the first half; it hurts but we should also think about the good things in 2023.
“We had a great run – that’s only the second game we’ve lost – so there’ll be ups and down in this journey.”
Meanwhile, Stoke recorded a second successive league victory for the first time since October.
The Potters scored three goals in a fixture for the seventh time in 2023 as their encouraging start to the year continues.
Boss Alex Neil said: “For the first 80 minutes we were the better side, 3-0 up and comfortable.
“It was a really strong performance; we were dangerous on the break, and we contained Blackburn.
“But the last 10 minutes was disappointing. It had no right to become a game because we should have seen the game out.
“When we do score the first goal, we’re a dangerous team and that’s four wins out of six, which in this division is really good.
“I’ve been saying for weeks that we’ve been doing better but ultimately no one believes you unless you get results on the pitch.
“It’s nice that we’re starting to get a few results that we’ve deserved, and I thought we were the better team against a good side tonight.
“There’s been a lot of talk this season about getting a good result and not backing it up, and I think we backed it up with our performance and result.
“It’s pleasing we’ve done that because we should be doing that on a regular basis.
“We’ve got a good solid squad and I think we’re in a good place at the moment and this summer’s going to be really exciting for us.”
