Assistant boss Rob Kelly disappointed Fleetwood Town did not get anything from Blackburn clash

Fleetwood Town's assistant head coach Rob Kelly had double cause for disappointment after Saturday's 2-1 loss against Blackburn Rovers.

Though Kelly admitted Rovers were the better side in the first half, he was disappointed both with the visitors' winning goal and that Town's second-half fightback went unrewarded.

Bradley Dack had given Blackburn a 27th minute lead, although they also saw Derrick Williams hit the woodwork and Dominic Samuel's penalty appeal waved away.

Town made a double change at the break, introducing Conor McAleny and George Glendon; a move which paid off when McAleny netted his first goal since his opening day double.

McAleny, Glendon, Wes Burns and Kyle Dempsey all had chances for Town but Rovers netted a winner against the run of play.

Jack Payne skipped down the right and found Richard Smallwood, who was not closed down quickly enough and fired the ball over the head of keeper Chris Neal.

Kelly said: "I was disappointed with the result; I think we deserved to maybe get something out of the game on the second-half showing.

"We were playing against a very good team, one we expect to go up.

"Blackburn did play well but I thought six games in 20 days on the back of a hectic Christmas period caught up with us. It is not an excuse, that is just how it is.

"I thought we just could not get going in the first half, second half was more like us.

"I thought we went toe to toe with them and more than matched them in the second half.

"We spoke in the week about putting pressure on them.They have got good players, very good players for this league and you can't give them time to play; they will show you what good players they are if you do.

"The goal came from a little spell of pressure from us where we managed to get about them a little bit more."

McAleny's goal was the ninth from a Town substitute this season but Kelly admitted his half-time introduction was not something planned in advance.

Nevertheless, defeat leaves Town 13th in League One, six points ahead of the bottom four and 10 adrift of the play-offs ahead of Saturday's trip to Gillingham.

Kelly said: "We didn't plan at the start of the game that we were going to change it at half-time but we needed to do something and get ourselves on the front foot.

our players have played a lot of games in a short period of time

"We needed to shake things up and we did; it freshened it up."