West Brom boss Tony Mowbray felt Adam Armstrong was “unfortunate” to see his goal chalked off against Rovers.
Armstrong thought he had got the Baggies back on level terms when he nodded past Aynsley Pears – but referee David Webb spotted a foul.
“I think the unfortunate thing for us was the positioning of the referee,” Mowbray " target="_blank" class="link"> told the club channels. “How is Adam Armstrong going to push over a 6ft 4 centre-half?
“I think he probably put his hands on the boy’s back and headed the ball into the net. The referee was probably looking right down the line at it. Some would give it, some would not give it.
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“If the ref was in a different position and never saw Adam put his hands on the boy’s back, we would have carried on and it would have been a goal.”
Mowbray’s side ultimately couldn’t find a breakthrough against a resilient Rovers display, dropping to sixth in the table.
“You would have to say they, defensively, are very well organised,” the former Rovers boss added. “They have been all season.
“They make it hard to get through their lines, they man-to-man mark in midfield and make it really difficult.
“We found that tonight, our wide players couldn’t really eliminate their full-backs and get behind them.
“It was a frustrated evening for us. I didn’t see any threat from them, first half. And yet, they started the second half and scored from a set play, which is frustrating for us.
“We are huffing and puffing, trying to get back in it, and they score on a breakaway really. A great diagonal ball into the box and he scored.
“Then it was always going to be difficult to score two against a team who play with so many men behind the ball.”
“You have to congratulate them and say well done, they did a good job,” Mowbray added. “They came, were extremely solid, worked extremely hard.
“It has been a difficult week for them but I have just spoken to Danny Batth, who I had at Sunderland, talking about how the team were galvanised by what happened this week.
“It made the players really stick together and he said you could sense it before the game, they were really up for the game.”
