Neil Lennon rues late goal following defeat at Blackburn
Neil Lennon says his side must stop conceding late goals following defeat at Blackburn on Wednesday evening.
Jordan Rhodes netted an injury time winner to deny Bolton a share of the spoils at Ewood Park.
And speaking after the game, the manager rued his side’s inability to keep the back door closed late on following similar feats in recent games against Watford, Reading and Wolves.
“We’re not happy with the performance,” he said. “We’re conceding late goals far too often, so you can’t really put it down to luck.
“I don’t know where it is coming from. Whether it is when we see the added time go up on the fourth official’s board we drop off a little, I don’t know.
“We’ve defended really well all game and with 30 seconds to go, we’ve got to see the game out. We concede, and as a manager it is very frustrating.
“It’s happening far too often for our liking. If we had been able to see games out we’d be sitting comfortable in mid-table.
“We had a couple of chances, particularly in the second half, but their goalkeeper has made some good saves. He actually won man of the match, and certainly says a lot.
“Our home form is fantastic, but our away form is unacceptable right now. We set our team out to be a bit more physical and hard to beat and it worked for all but 30 seconds.
“There are still a few positives, but it kind of feels like they don’t really count for much.
“Our two new loan players did well. I thought Paddy in particular was outstanding and he’ll only get better with more game time.
“We had to leave Barry out because we can only include five loans in our matchday 18. It was a very difficult decision to make, but we were vindicated in it for most of the game.
“As a manager you’re always looking over your shoulder. We now must go and win the game on Saturday against Millwall.”