BLACKBURN Rovers Under-23s boss Damien Johnson praised his 10-man side’s character after they edged an incident-packed match with Wolves on Monday night to record their third win of the Premier League 2 season.

Rovers took a two-goal lead into the break thanks to a deflected Lewis Hardcastle effort and a penalty from fit-again first-team star Anthony Stokes.

But, despite the heroics of goalkeeper Andy Fisher, Wolves roared back after the restart and scored twice in the space of four minutes to level the Leyland contest.

Matters then took a turn for the worse for Rovers after Stokes was sent off.

Having been booked for dissent moments earlier, the striker was amazed to be shown a second yellow card after he had been the victim of a foul from behind.

But Rovers, watched by first-team manager Owen Coyle, secured a thrilling 3-2 home victory thanks to a fantastic finish from Lewis Mansell.

And Johnson, who was far from happy with the display of the referee, said: “We came in at half-time really pleased, I thought we’d coped really well with them and scored two good goals.

“I certainly didn’t see the first 20 minutes of the second half coming but it did for whatever reason.

“They started on the front foot and we didn’t deal with it very well as a team or individually and we let them back in it.

“But we showed character and when Anthony gets sent off the odds are stacked against us but the lads really dug in and Lewis scored a great goal.

“So all in all I’m really pleased with the character that they showed, they really stuck at it and worked their socks off and found a way to win the game.”

Rovers, who are fifth in Division Two, welcome Burnley to Ewood Park on Friday (2pm kick-off) for their opening Premier League Cup group match.

Rovers season ticket holders will be admitted free of charge on production of their season ticket card at the turnstiles.

Tickets, costing £3 for adults and £1 for concessions, are on sale to supporters with a database booking history only, and must be collected on the day of the game from midday onwards on production of a valid ID which must show the purchaser’s address. 

There will be no sales on the day of the match.