It would have been ‘a great game to win 1-0’ was Tony Mowbray’s assessment as Rovers were held to a 0-0 draw with Cardiff City at Ewood Park.

The game was devoid of chances, but both side’s hit the woodwork, including Derrick Williams for Rovers late on.

It is seven points from nine in the course of a week for Mowbray’s side though after opening the season with back-to-back defeats.

However, they are still waiting for their first goal from open play in the league, despite the improvements at the back, which was a sourceof disappointment for the boss.

“I think we’re ok with it. We’re disappointed we didn’t get three points. I think we had enough half opportunities to get it,” Mowbray said.

“Obviously Derrick’s chance at the death off the post was a frustration for us. I just think it was a great game to win 1-0.

“It would have been a horrible game to lose 1-0 of course and that potentially could have happened because they put a lot of balls in your box and are very direct. Listen, we have to accept it. Cardiff were in the Premier League last year and have a lot of big players.

“So we accept that we didn’t manage to score, but the positive is a clean sheet and it’s another point, and we keep moving on. If we’d said at the start of the week that we were going to get seven points this week, we’d have probably taken it.”

The Rovers defence backline came under heavy criticism last season after shipping 69 goals in their 46 league games.

Having conceded twice in each of their opening two league matches, and the Carabao Cup win over Oldham, they have gone three straight games without conceding.

“It’s okay. We haven’t scored enough goals of course but football is always a work in progress,” Mowbray added.

“You’re either trying to improve defensively or attacking-wise. Sometimes when you improve the defensive side, you take away from the attacking bit and you’ve got the get the balance right.

“It was never going to be a goal glut against Cardiff City. You know how they play. They’re big, strong, powerful, ask questions if you put the ball in the box. We had to stand up and be counted and we did.

“I thought there were a lot of positives. It wasn’t as silky as we might have wanted, not as fluent as we might have wanted and yet we played against a team that don’t make the game fluent and open. They keep it tight and mark man for man all over the pitch.

“They got well beaten on their last away game 3-0 and I’m sure Neil isn’t the sort of coach to accept that so they would have been at it today, as they were. We’ll put the point in the bag and move on.”

Rovers tried to change things in the closing stages, replacing Danny Graham and Bradley Dack with Adam Armstrong and Joe Rothwell.

They came on strong late on, as Williams and Darragh Lenihan both went close, but both sides had to make do with a point apiece.

“When you play Cardiff City I think you know you’re going to be in for a gruelling match to be honest,” Mowbray said.

“We made some, in my opinion, pretty brave changes – took Dack and Graham off.

“We felt, if they were chasing the game, Armstrong and Gallagher down the side of their centre halves who are amazing in the air but not the most mobile, so we put our speed down the sides and tried to push them back,which kept their full backs in a bit more, which meant they didn’t build up momentum and pressure in our box, which I know they can do.

“It nearly paid off for us but it didn’t but we’ll take the point. It’s frustrating. It’s nice to win at home but it wasn’t to be. We’ll accept the point and move on to West Brom next week.”