All the possession, dominated the chances and domination in all the statistics, bar the one that matters, was Billy Barr’s view of Rovers Under-23s defeat to Brighton at Leyland.

Jack Vale handed Rovers the perfect start, scoring from the spot after just three minutes, but an equaliser from Peter Gwargis and second half strike from Danny Cashman handed the Seagulls victory.

Rovers spent much of the second half camped in the Brighton half, but were undone on the counter attack as Cashman ran off the shoulder of Sam Hart before rounding Andrew Fisher and firing the ball in to the net.

Jordan Davies was sent off late on for a wild challenge on Sam Barnes, but even with a man advantage, Rovers couldn’t make their dominance count.

The disappointment from Barr was his side’s inability to make the most of their territory, with balls flashing across the box without anyone being able to get on the end of them.

Barr said: “Smash and grab. You look at all the stats, shots, shots on target, corners, final third entries, we were top on them all apart from the one that matters, a 2-1 win to them.

“They did it against Arsenal, they’re good at what they do. From our point of view I thought we were wasteful.

“We had 34 crosses and I can’t really remember us getting on the end of anything.

“Second half it felt like they had a couple of breakaways and we have been camped in their half.

“From that point of view, good, but from the other side of it, the creation and patience, decision-making, that’s what I said to them, we need to keep working on, improve, looking at.

“It’s just a disappointment that a game where we had so much of the ball, we should have won.”

The impressive Taylor Richards danced past two Rovers tackles to create the equaliser for Gwargis, while Cashman broke the offside trap for the second in the 68th minute.

“We spoke about the start, but then a couple of mistakes for their goals, we were punished for two moments of madness,” Barr added.

“We can’t feel for ourselves, we have another game on Friday that will be equally as hard and see what knocks and bruises we’ve got, go through the video and plan for Friday.”

Richie Smallwood was given a run-out in central midfield, while Sam Hart started on the left wing, before moving to left back having switched positions with Lewis Thompson.

Without Joe Rankin-Costello and Dan Butterworth because of injury, and Harry Chapman having been involved with the first-team, the Under-23s were left short of options in the attacking areas.

“We just wanted them both to play. The pros needed to play. Was it ideal? No,” Barr added.

“They swapped positions, especially when Tommo had been booked and warned again by the referee.

“But they’re not as fluent in those positions.”

Scholar Luke Brennan had an impact when coming off the bench, while in defence, Charley Doyle boosted the numbers by returning from three months on the sidelines.

On the injury front, Barr, whose side travel to Wolves on Friday, said: “Jack Evans has another niggle, he’s had a stop-start season. Louie Annesley is back on the grass. Obviously we lost Dan Butterworth.

“We could do with them back, but it gives people an opportunity.

“Luke Brennan when he came was a big positive. I watched him against Liverpool for the Under-18s on Saturday and he continued the same way.

“Isaac (Whitehall) was good when he came on, so we’ll keep working with them.”

The defeat leaves Rovers 10th in the Premier League 2 table, three points clear of Friday’s opponents Wolves who occupy the second relegation spot.

Brighton meanwhile, stay fifth after the win.