FRUSTRATED Gary Bowyer claimed the goal that condemned Blackburn Rovers to a second straight Championship loss should never have stood.

On first glance Simon Church appeared to take the ball down on his chest before firing past Jake Kean to earn struggling Charlton Athletic a shock 1-0 win at Ewood Park on Saturday.

But after studying video footage of the winning strike immediately after the defeat, Bowyer was convinced that Church had used his arm to trap Dale Stephens’ defence-splitting pass.

The Rovers boss said: “We’ve seen the goal again on the video and while we’re not sure on which part of the arm it has hit him, it’s quite clear it’s a handball.

“These are the things that go against you and hopefully they’ll level themselves out over the year.”

Bowyer had no complaints with the effort Rovers showed in attempting to break down an Addicks outfit who defended stoutly to secure their first away victory of the season.

But he admitted his out-of-sorts side ultimately lacked the quality required.

Bowyer said: “We huffed and puffed and put balls into the box but just couldn’t quite break them down.

“They obviously came with a game plan to put as many bodies behind the ball and it was up to us to be a bit cuter in the final third.

“A little bit of credit has to go to Charlton for the amount of bodies they did get behind the ball.

“What I think we did see out there was plenty of endeavour and workmanlike performances.

“We just needed a bit more care in the final third and a bit more quality.”

Bowyer conceded Rovers missed the tenacity and drive of the injured Corry Evans.

But he still felt he had the players out on the pitch to unlock the well-drilled Addicks defence.

Bowyer said: “Corry is going to be a loss to any team the way he plays and what he brings but it enabled us to put Ben Marshall in there.

“Ben and Tom Cairney are good technicians and we were just hoping for a bit of quality from them but we were a little bit short of that at times.”