John Eustace believes Blackburn Rovers' mis-timed pressing was the reason they were 'too open' against Plymouth Argyle.

Rovers came away with a point from Ewood Park after battling hard with ten men for 40 minutes. However, even without a man advantage, the visitors passed up some presentable chances.

Ryan Hardie, Bali Bumba and Mickel Miller all could've scored whilst Sam Szmodics did take his chance at the other end. Arnor Sigurdsson also hit the post at 1-0 in what could've been a game-changing moment.

Eustace explained that Rovers did make some tactical tweaks at half-time but McFadzean's red card 10 minutes after the interval scuppered any chance of those impacting the match.

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In the first 15 minutes, Rovers scored and had the bulk of the play, winning the ball high up the pitch. But as those in front of the defence tired, gaps began to appear and Plymouth played through Rovers, getting in-behind on multiple occasions.

When asked about the first-half display, Eustace explained that Rovers' press from the front was slightly miss-timed, which had a knock-on effect. 

"Goals change games and we had a fantastic chance to go 2-0 up. We played some good football and we didn't take that chance," the head coach told The Lancashire Telegraph.

"We started the game very well and maybe some fatigue for some of the players. That showed.

"We're asking players to be aggressive, to be on the front foot and the timing of the pressing was just a little bit off.

"They're a very attacking team and the opportunities we gave them, we were too open, in my opinion. We changed a few things on that at half-time.

"We knew fresh legs would come on and change things in the second half but we didn't have that opportunity. We still had an amazing opportunity to go 2-0 up, saying that."

On playing with a higher line, he added: "I think so (why Plymouth got behind). I think the front three, Gally, the work rate he's put in over the last month has been amazing.

"Siggy came in and he hasn't started many games of late and they ran out of steam a tiny bit. Then it's about getting the right time to press and when not to press.

"Our timing was a little bit off there. They had a few chances but so did we. It was an open game.

"Was I worried? No, I wasn't, I didn't think they'd score in the second half even when we went down to ten men. I thought we defended very well."