Mick McCarthy couldn’t deny Rovers deserved their point even though Adam Armstrong’s last minute equaliser left his players feeling ‘sick’.

Armstrong scored late in both halves as Rovers left the Cardiff City Stadium with a point and ended the Bluebirds’ hopes of a top six finish.

McCarthy’s side looked to have got back to winning ways when Joe Ralls put them ahead for a second time in the second half, after Will Vaulks’ opener was cancelled out by Armstrong, but the Rovers top scorer had the final say with a neat finish in the dying seconds of normal time.

“My ultimate assessment is that we’ve given two goals away, one at the end of each half, which is really disappointing,” McCarthy said.

"I can’t sit here and say that Blackburn didn’t deserve something from it in the second half, because they hit the woodwork and played well.

“But when we get into that situation at 2-1 with that time to go, we’ve been good at keeping it. Unfortunately, the last three games we haven’t, so that’s a disappointment.”

The timing of both Rovers’ goals was a frustration for McCarthy, as it was his players.

"They were very disappointed at the lateness of both goals, but certainly the equaliser in the second half,” he added.

"We should be able to hang on to that.

"Everyone is feeling the same way, they're all sick about it."

Taking one point from their previous three matches has all but ended talk of a top six finish for the Bluebirds who enjoyed a remarkable upturn in form under McCarthy in 2021.

He says the focus will now turn to next season, but even before the Rovers draw, he felt a top six finish was a tall order.

"I've not done the last three results on purpose to quell any talk of the play-offs, you can rest assured that's not the case,” he continued.

"I thought even before, eight points adrift with six games to go was an unlikely sequence of events.

"Whether we won all our games or not, the other teams are capable of winning theirs. All we can do is look after our games and performances and results.

"Unfortunately we haven't."