Blackburn boss John Eustace was happy to see his side secure a “gritty” victory as they beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 to record a fifth straight Championship win.
The Owls were the better team throughout the first 45 minutes but it was the visitors who almost took the lead in sensational fashion as Lewis Travis bulleted an effort against the underside of the crossbar from range.
The hosts were then denied a couple of minutes later when Di’Shon Bernard headed onto the crossbar from inside the box.
The all-important moment of the game came in the 68th minute when Joe Rankin-Costello picked out substitute Makhtar Gueye, who headed the winner beyond James Beadle.
Eustace was delighted with the all-round performance from his team, who now sit fifth, as they secured a fourth straight clean sheet.
He said: “I think the Championship is relentless and there’s going to be times when you can play football and times when you have to defend and tonight was a scrappy Championship game.
“The way the boys defended was very pleasing and the bit of quality from us with the cross from Joe was decent so again I’m really delighted. It was another really strong performance from the boys.
“This group are 100 per cent committed and will run through a brick wall for each other. We’re a really good footballing team, the goals have proved that but we have to show both sides. We showed a gritty side today which I’m pleased with.”
Gueye came off the bench in the second half and notched his first league goal of the season.
Eustace added: “I’m really delighted for Makhtar to get the winning goal.
“Any striker wants to score goals but you can see from his work ethic and what he does for the team so I’m delighted he got the winner and hopefully there’s going to be some more now.
“I thought his all-round performance after he scored was good, he was disappointed not to start. Today, I thought he was excellent.”
Danny Rohl saw Wednesday lose for the first time in a month but believes they are closing the gap to the top teams in the division.
He said: “The last 20 minutes it was just one team who tried to score, of course they lead and it’s unnecessary for them to do much but Blackburn are a solid team, they do what they have to do.
“We tried and tried for the equaliser but we keep going but I will take the positive things from this game, I will work on my team, we will work together.
“We are closer, we are making games tighter against the top teams in the league. We miss in some moments to close this gap, I think there’s a reason why in all the games it is tight.
“I know everybody and the ambition we have, we want more and more.”
