Birmingham boss Pep Clotet was delighted to secure three points against a Rovers side who he feels have ‘improved massively’ from last season.

Clotet led his side to a second win in six matches when Maxime Colin headed home a sweeping Blues move just after the half hour mark.

Tony Mowbray was angered by his side’s first half display and Clotet, who was promoted from his role as assistant manager to Garry Monk after his departure this summer, expected a reaction from Rovers in the second half and felt it was much more of a contest after the break.

Clotet felt his side would need a second goal to make things more comfortable, one they came close to as Christian Walton saved from Fran Villalba and Lukas Jutkiewicz rattled the bar with a stunning strike from 25 yards.

And while Mowbray felt his side’s attitude and application fell short in the first half, Clotet felt that was key to Birmingham claiming all three points.

He said: “We were competing against a Blackburn team that has improved massively from last season.

“They had a few additions that gave them the extra - a player like Dack makes a huge difference in this league.

“They have replacements for their strikers, if they want to go forward they can go forward.

“We spoke at half time that this was a game where we had to go for a second, we could not settle for the result we had.

“We knew that Blackburn would have to throw everything at us and they did.

“They put us under a lot of pressure and we always tried to chase.

“In some spells in the second half, when we had more control, we played the same football we played in the first half.

“But in the moments that Blackburn was not allowing that, and at the end of the game, you have to break a bit more.

“I thought we broke with quality with Maghoma kept finding the same role that Dan (Crowley) and Fran did before. We found those pockets, and I think Jukey had a clear shot.

“The goal didn’t come but we know we are organised as well defending and the attitude of the players helped massively.”