Blackburn Rovers 3 Barnsley 2: Gerhard Struber's to-do list gets longer after defeat on his dugout debut

Gerhard Struber was taking charge of his first game following his midweek appointment as Daniel Stendel's replacement, but they went down to a Championship defeat at Blackburn that was underpinned by defensive gaffes.

Struber only had two training sessions with his new side before this 3-2 loss, so he was never going to change things overnight, but it has left him admitting he has a “long to-do list”.

They looked on course for a valuable point after Cauley Woodrow had levelled at 2-2 in the 82nd minute, but just four minutes later Bradley Dack was left unmarked to scramble home a heart-breaking winner for the hosts.

Another poor piece of play had allowed Dack to open the scoring in the first half, but Conor Chaplin had levelled for the Reds before Stewart Downing had put Blackburn back in front.

Struber said: “In the second half we created a very good game and one point was the minimum we deserved.

“We have a long to-do list, and especially when we build up, we had a better position, and these were not magic moments, but we planned, and we build up, and have more control. “Then when we lose the ball, we have a better situation from gegenpressing, and this is the most important thing now.

“On the other side, we need to clear when the opponent had set pieces. This is a task for every player, and today we lost the game because of that. It’s a very disappointing result.”

Blackburn: Walton, Bennett, Adarabioyo, Lenihan, Amari'i Bell, Travis, Holtby (Downing 63), Rothwell (Buckley), Dack, Armstrong, Gallagher (Graham 63). Unused subs: Leutwiler, Johnson, Brereton, Evans

Barnsley: Radlinger, Diaby, Halme (Dougall 46), Sibbick, Andersen, Brown, Bahre, Mowatt, B William, Schmidt (Chaplin 46), Woodrow (Thomas 83). Unused subs: Collins, Chaplin, Cavare, Thiam

Referee: Dean Whitestone

Attendance: 13,781