Tony Mowbray felt Rovers could lay claim to be the more deserving of three points having been held at home by Preston North End.

It was a third successive draw for Rovers at Ewood Park after Adam Armstrong’s early strike was cancelled out by a Josh Harrop thunderbolt.

Rovers had the better chances in both halves, with Declan Rudd making saves to deny Lewis Holtby and Tosin Adarabioyo, while Armstrong hit the post and went close with a shot at 1-0.

But Rovers couldn’t find that elusive second goal they pressed for in what was a game littered with fouls in testing conditions.

“I think on the balance of play it wouldn’t have been an injustice if we’d have got all three,” Mowbray said.

“It was a typical derby game right from the first whistle to the last, no-one gave an inch.

“There was a lot of forward passes, almost territorial at times, ‘can we play in their half?’

“I think on the balance of play we had the better chances, we threatened their goal more, I think they scored a wonder goal.

“It was an attriotional game, as you might expect from a local game, I don’t think we were helped with Evans going off so early in the first half and Nyambe so early in the second.

“On the back of Dack being available, it’s tough, but the positive is that we went toe-to-toe with Preston, a team I respect, I like their nature of how they play.

“They’re similar to us, a collective camaraderie and spirit among their team which makes them difficult to play against.

“I’m not sure how many games unbeaten we are at home, teams are finding it hard to play against at home.

“On the balance of play I think we deserved to win, but it wasn’t to be. We will put the point in the bag and move on to the next one.”

Mowbray feels the sides, separated by three points in the league, are both similar in their approach which made for such a battle on the pitch.

He added: “Sometimes when two teams who might not have the best players in the league, might not be able to control the ball for 90 minutes, you know you’re in a football match when you play against Blackburn Rovers or Preston North End and I think we both went toe-to-toe.

“On the balance of play, efforts at goal, on target, territory around their box, if someone was going to win it would have been us, but ultimately we didn’t get over the line.

“We hit the post, Armstrong bent one to the far post, we lost a goal at Forest recently like that, coming in on the left hand side and everyone misses it and it hits the inside of the post.

“Tosin had a chance at the far post that the keeper pulled out of the top corner,  Holtby had a great strike at goal that the keeper saved.

“We had a lot of efforts at goal, it probably warranted more than one goal.

“It was a game played in weather fitting of a derby match in the north west of England and we share the spoils and move on.”