Stoke City boss Nathan Jones said his side ‘could have buckled’ under Rovers second half pressure but was delighted with a sixth consecutive clean sheet.

Peter Etebo’s 14th minute goal, Stoke’s first in 390 minutes of football, proved to be the matchwinner.

Rovers were buoyed by an excellent David Raya save from Bojan’s penalty deep in to first half injury time and came out re-energised after the break, playing on the front foot.

They struggled to create too many clear-cut openings however, with Jack Butland saving well from Adam Armstrong who had hit the bar in the first half.

"Blackburn at home, the onus is on them to win the game and they have been buoyed by the penalty miss and came out thinking this is a real opportunity,” Jones said.

"I would like to us be a bit more active and dominate the game more second half, but we showed resilience and character and sides could have buckled and not defended well enough but no-one went to sleep. Everyone tracked runners.

"Benik Afobe, people like that, worked tirelessly and were on their knees by the end. It shows the resilience we have.”

Having saved Bojan’s penalty to keep Rovers in the game, Raya made an even better stop to keep out Sam Vokes’ header seven minutes from time.

Jones felt his side could have won by more, but praised the Spaniard for those two stand-out saves.

"He's made two wonderful saves. The penalty and the one from Sam Vokes from a wonderful, wonderful header,” he added.

“But those are things and it’s hard to be too disappointed because we created enough clear-cut chances to have won the game by more.

"But we picked up injuries and had to adjust twice against a well-organised side that's been together for a long time and work together for each other, so I'm delighted with the win, I really am.”

Jones felt a victory had been coming for his side after those four consecutive 0-0 draws. He celebrated with gusto in front of the away end at the final whistle, adding: "They are good away days these.

"I'm just disappointed we didn't win by more. We have played some wonderful football first half and had the penalty which would have been 2-0, so we could have made it a lot easier on ourselves.

"But I cannot fault the work-rate, resilience and some of our football.

"The goal is as good as you can see with fluent football and a finish to top it off.”