Tony Mowbray hailed the Rovers fans as his side came from behind to secure a hard-fought victory against Middlesbrough.
It was Mowbray’s first game back in the dugout at Ewood Park since April 2022, and against his former club.
The home form was an issue for Rovers last season but they made a perfect start thanks to Andri Gudjohnsen and Todd Cantwell’s goals, plus some resilient defending at the other end of the pitch.
“I’m more pleased with the result,” Mowbray said. “They are a wonderful football team, we know that. We knew we were going to have to suffer at times without the ball.
“And yet I said to them at half time, we had three one-on-ones to be honest, three amazing chances to score and that was the gameplan really.
“We knew you can't stop Middlesbrough having the ball and that wasn't really the intention. The intention was to try and nick it off them in their half of the pitch if we could and break away towards their goal.
“And we did that three or four times, first half particularly. How we came in without scoring a goal is beyond me, but happy enough.
“When you play against top teams, your mentality isn’t – mine isn’t anyway - that we're definitely going to beat these, how are we going to beat these? We knew we were going to have to suffer without the ball a bit but we found a way.
“We talked at half time about taking a bit more care when we had the ball and being a better team than we showed in the first half, and I think we did that. The times that we nicked it, we got into their box and we scored two good goals.”
Ewood Park was rocking in the second half as Rovers dug deep to get over the line against tough opponents.
“I thought the fans were really, really good today,” the head coach added. “I think kicking into that goal particularly helps the team.
“My memories of the fans, I'll always remember the day after we got promoted at Doncaster, out here at a full stadium, packed stadium, bringing back memories of 94/95 - not winning the Premier League but getting promoted out to League One!
“I hope that if we can find results like we've done today on a regular basis, the stadium will become more normally exuberant, loud and engaged with the footballers on the pitch and that's what we aim to try to do.
“I think we got there a few years back when Dack was playing and Mulgrew, Elliot Bennett and people like this, Danny Graham.
“The fans really bought into that team and I'm hoping to give them a team that they can be proud of and know that while we won't win every game, we're going to try and make this place really difficult for everybody to come to.
“It's not a bad start being able to beat, if not the best team, one of the best teams in the league at home today.”
Mowbray was also quizzed about a transfer link with Enzo Tchato, a defender from Ligue 2 club Montpellier.
“I don’t know the name,” he replied. “I’m very conscious of the people and the layers at the football club - we've got sporting directors, technical directors - who take care of that.
“My honest answer to you is that I've never heard the name, never mind are we going to sign him? We might sign him and you say, ‘Who signed him?’
“I have never seen him so I don't know who he is, what he is, where he plays, what position on the pitch. So yeah, might happen still. Just wait and see.”
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