Keith Downing explained why Blackburn Rovers stuck with a back three against ten-man Coventry City when chasing a winner.

Rovers had 30 attempts on goal against the Sky Blues but couldn't find a breakthrough. In the second half, they peppered the goal and did everything but score.

John Eustace's side had already made a fast start after the interval but once Liam Kitching was sent off, there was a barrage of pressure on the Coventry goal.

Yasin Ayari came on from the bench and made a big impact. The midfielder produced his best performance since signing in January, going close to scoring twice.

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However, Rovers never deviated from the 5-2-3/3-4-3 shape that they started the match with. Dilan Markanday and Semir Telalovic were unused substitutes whilst Andrew Moran was only introduced late on.

Given the need for a goal, with Coventry down to ten, some supporters questioned why the shape wasn't changed and an extra attacker introduced.

Downing explained Rovers' thinking as they decided to push their wing-backs very high and leave three centre-backs on with Coventry still attacking with two centre-forwards.

"The shape we had, we put our wing-backs very high but kept a back three," he told The Lancashire Telegraph.

"They played with two up front so we managed to negate that. We had then the width from the wing-backs.

"We considered changing to a back four but because they kept two up, they still had two to mark. So we put Ben Chrisene on the left who is a bit more forward-thinking than Harry (Pickering).

"Yasin (Ayari) came on and he has a goal in him. He's a good technician. He's a good technical player, covers ground well, changes the play and controlled it with ten men.

"We just needed the final ball, we got into some good areas. Just the decision-making and execution wasn't there. Credit again to them, they put 10 blocks in and their bodies on the lines."

Rovers had plenty of chances, with arguably the best falling to Sam Szmodics in the first half. Tyrhys Dolan also hit the post as it proved to be one of those days.

"You can forgive Sammie for that one (in the first half), he's so often been in the right place at the right time. Most of those games he'd have put it away," Downing continued.

"You can't criticise Sammie, he has single-handedly kept us in the hunt. When you take a step back, it's about the performance and that is all you can control.

"That's what we have to look at. This coming week, we'll analyse the chances that we had. We will work on it, of course. 

"The performance was good and so we have to be positive. Coventry are a good side, I know the week they've had but they still carry a threat, they're a good team. We restricted them for an hour to very few chances."