Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean said the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa today served to highlight his pressing need for a striker.

"I think when we analyse the game, we were quite happy with the way we played, we worked the ball into the box," he said.

"We just maybe lacked a cutting edge a little bit but I thought up until the top end of the pitch, everything else clicked.

“We’re trying to get a striker, that’s no secret, as well as down the middle of the pitch where we lost Jones to Schalke.

"So we’ll be trying to get a striker in before the start of the season.

“Both the Rao brothers were here and we’ll see them at the hotel tonight to have a chat.

"It was a positive day – we had more shots than Villa.

"Jason Roberts worked very hard and it was great for (Mauro) Formica to come in and play alongside him and Shay Given's pulled out a wonderful save from Brett Emerton.

"We're slightly disappointed we didn't manage to score because I thought we deserved at least one goal.

"I think it's a positive way we set about a game like this, we tried to control possession - it's just the top line that didn't manage to get the goal."

Villa boss Alex McLeish said: "I said that before the game that because it was a Premier League game there was a little bit of an edge, a few meaty tackles but I was pleased with the performance of the lads in intense heat and humidity.

"I take a lot from that game in terms of seeing my players and creative moments like Barry's fantastic cross for Bent's winner and also some really solid defending, when we had to we were up to the mark."

The Scot deployed striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in a deeper role with Bent and Emile Heskey also in the line-up and was pleased with what he saw.

"I thought he did very well. He was a threat, got into some good positions and there's a lot of food for thought in that position," he said.

"The reason we played that way was that Blackburn were loaded in midfield and we didn't want to get overpowered and Gabby did a good job."