Jon Dahl Tomasson feels Rovers are suffering at the hands of the ‘cruel’ nature of football having now gone six games without a win.

Injury-time equalisers from Coventry City goalkeeper Ben Wilson and a Dom Hyam goal denied them four points in the space of three days.

It means they host Burnley tomorrow night outside of the top six, but with their fate still in their own hands by virtue of their game in hand against Burnley.

Tomasson feels performances haven’t got their rewards, and that his side are doing plenty of things right, without being able to end their wait for a win which stretches back to March 15.

“If you look at all the opportunities then we should have won games, but that’s the cruelness of football, it’s not always like that,” he said.

“If you do something right, and we’re doing a lot of things right, just not winning the games, which is the most important of course.

“At this stage three games to go we’re in an excellent position, it’s about getting a result and getting over the line.

“That’s why I was extremely impressed with the way we coped with the Preston game, a derby game, and actually being dominant in the second half.

“We got a lot of entrants into the final third, not always making the right decision, but if you look at that then you can’t get any more.”

Rovers dominated the second half against Preston North End and looked well on their way to securing all three points after Sam Szmodics’ goal, only to be denied by Hyam’s unfortunate own goal.

Tomasson added: “Our last game was a good performance in a difficult derby game, we were very close to winning and we should have won, should have scored the second goal, and 30 seconds later there’s a boy who slips and then an own goal.

“Football is cruel.

“You can talk about luck and fortune but it’s about being clinical in those situations.”

There have been question marks over Rovers’ approach to seeing games out, having switched to a back five for the closing stages of the last two games, only to be denied in injury time.

They did likewise against Sheffield United earlier in the season, and asked about game management, the head coach said: “When you concede goals late it’s disappointing and frustrating for everyone, players, staff, fans, and if you look at the situation, against Coventry we were too passive that we shouldn’t have been, and then they scored a goal with the hand.

“I don’t think we got passive against Preston, not at all, we actually got our biggest chance in the end of the game but weren’t clinical in that situation.

“We can also talk about not being clinical at the other end and that’s the story.”

Szmodics’ goal against North End was another well-worked move by Rovers, but they have struggled to find the net, and make the most of their territory and chances in recent weeks.

It has put extra pressure on the defence, and while the goals Rovers have scored have been well crafted, the ones they have conceded have been a mix of lapses in concentration and misfortune.

“When you give chances or goals away there are always mistakes, that’s football,” Tomasson said.

“Players don’t make mistakes on purpose, but when you are not scoring many goals you need to be even more focused and take care of those situations.

“It hurts everyone the goal we conceded, normally you win the game, you have the biggest chance of the game and then 30 seconds afterwards a player is unlucky to slip, another gets hit by the ball and it’s an own goal.

“That’s the cruel part of football but you don’t have time to be frustrated for long, you turn around and get energy from the frustration because we’re doing a lot of good things.

“The lads have been brilliant and done an excellent job for Rovers to get us in this position.

“Dom was unlucky with the own goal but has been playing brilliant the whole season, Ryan came in and changed the game, missed the chance, that’s football.

“We should back those players, they don’t deserve any blame at all.”