BLACKBURN Rovers boss Owen Coyle felt his much changed and largely youthful side were unfortunate to lose their EFL Cup third-round tie at Championship rivals Leeds United.

With six first-team players sidelined and two more cup-tied, and with one eye on Saturday’s clash at fellow strugglers Derby County, Coyle made nine alterations to the team that had started the vital victory over Rotherham United.

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Rovers had chances to go in front with Marco Silvestri saving from Jack Byrne, substitute Marvin Emnes and Elliott Bennett before Leeds substitute Chris Wood scored the only goal of the game six minutes from the end of normal time after he beat the inspired David Raya at the second attempt.

Coyle admitted that the goal was a poor one to give away given it came about after the otherwise impressive Darragh Lenihan’s pass out of defence had been intercepted.

But he had no complaints with the effort and application on show and felt referee Darren Deadman should have awarded Rovers an injury-time penalty after Hope Akpan went down in the box.

“Like any game you want to win but it’s important we had that freshness going into Saturday,” said Coyle, who was forced to play 18-year-old right-back Ryan Nyambe alongside midfielder Lenihan in the heart of the backline after 18-year-old centre-back Scott Wharton limped off early on.

“That’s why we made nine changes, but at the same time still believing we could win the game, and I think we did enough to shade it.

“But unfortunately we’ve got caught with a sucker punch at the other end. We had possession and we gave it away cheaply.

“From then David Raya made a good first save. The ball goes back into the wide area and the boy fires it across and Wood has got on it.

“David’s made another good save but when he’s palmed it, he’s committed to the ground, and unfortunately for us it’s fell on Wood’s head and it ended in the back of the net.

“But we kept going, kept creating chances, and for me there was an absolute stonewall penalty when Marvin Emnes cut the ball back to Hope Akpan and their boy comes behind him and catches him.

“But we certainly were never going to get that decision because we never got anything prior to it.”