Rovers boss Henning Berg was left to rue a controversial refereeing decision as Millwall took three points at Ewood Park.

Referee Eddie Ilderton pulled play back for a Rovers free kick for a foul on Mauro Formica when Jordan Rhodes was bearing down on goal in the first half.

And while it was far from certain that Rovers’ leading scorer would take the chance, Berg believed it was a huge turning point in the 2-0 defeat.

“It is a clear free kick for us on the half way line,” he said. “A good referee will keep his cool he will just wait and see what happens and if he had done that and held it for a second or two he would have seen it was an advantage for us to play on but he didn’t.

“Of course it is a game with small margins and small details and that could change a game and that could have been it.

“But we lost 2-0 and there were other things we could have done better in terms of defending and in terms of attacking. That was one of the incidents that happened but we are not looking only to that one.”

And Berg believes his side could have prevented both goals, despite the finishes being of the highest quality.

He added: With the first goal, he doesn’t have to get the ball in that position, we could have defended better early on, but as soon as he shoots it’s difficult to stop. It’s a fantastic strike.

“Second goal, we lose the ball in central midfield and again they get a shooting opportunity, which they took well. The biggest difference between the teams today was maybe shooting ability.”

Berg added that he was pleased with the commitment of his Rovers side, even if they lacked prowess in the final third.

“The effort was there, just lacked a bit of extra quality,” he said. “Everyone tried their best, and that is what we expect “We played against a team who is on a good run in the league and it showed.

“They were a difficult team to play against, they were well organised, they have done well in being unbeaten for 11 games, that tells you that they are high in confidence and they play well together.

“The striker (Wood) looked a really good player and I think if West Brom hadn’t done as well as they have recently then they would have called him back.

“Some games you don’t get it, you know, for different reasons; not 100 per cent in the quality, or teams are defending well. but then you need that it to go your way – when the ball drops for you in the box or when you shoot and it goes in, instead of hitting the goalkeeper but we didn’t have that.”

Millwall boss Kenny Jackett also believed Blackburn could consider themselves unfortunate not to come away with something from the game.

“In the first half we caused them lots of problems and perhaps surprised them but I did think we needed a lead and something to hang on to going into the second half,” said Jackett who has seen his side rise into the top six thanks to an 11-game unbeaten run.

“At the start of the second half, Blackburn were excellent.

“They moved the ball ffrom the back very well and our goalkeeper made a couple of very good saves.

“We had a bit of luck at the right time, came through it and got two very good goals at the end.”