Stewart Downing thrived in a central midfield role against Nottingham Forest but was disappointed it didn’t coincide with three points.

Downing felt Rovers were dominant for long spells and that Forest’s equaliser so soon after Adam Armstrong opener was an avoidable bolt out of the blue.

The draw meant Rovers took just one point from back-to-back home games with Luton and high-flying Forest, though Downing believes there are positives to take in to the weekend’s game at QPR.

“There were some good things there, coming up against a good team in Nottingham Forest and I thought we dominated for large parts,” said the 35-year-old, named man of the match.

“It just wouldn’t drop for us in the second half, we had a lot of shots, a lot of crosses, but I think the most disappointing thing was their goal.

“We scored and then I think we’ve got to use a bit more nous.

“Nevertheless it’s still a point and we can take a lot of positives in to the weekend’s game.”

Lolley levelled with a 25-yard strike after working the ball on to his more dangerous left foot.

Christian Walton made few saves of note, and it was Rovers who were in the ascendancy, but couldn’t make their dominance count.

“I didn’t see it coming. How many shots did Forest have, how many open chances?,” Downing added.

“I thought we dominated the ball, defended really well as a team and a lot of things we’d worked on as a team came off.

“I thought Adam Armstrong had a really good game, (Matty) Cash is a good player and he gave him lots of problems.

“We need to get him playing like that most weeks and keep feeding him the ball because he’s a threat and I thought that worked well.

“Down that left-hand side I thought me, him and Greg combined quite well.

“We’ll get better, the goals will come, we just need to be more clinical.”

Rovers were in need of a response after the disappointment of a 2-1 home reverse to Luton three days earlier that halted their momentum after back-to-back victories.

While a return of one point from two Ewood fixture is disappointing, Downing says the performance levels have been worthy of more.

“Results wise, 100 per cent,” the former England international said.

“When we’re playing at home we expect to win every game.

“With no disrespect, if you want to be up there then you have to beat the likes of Luton and that’s no disrespect to them, they’re a good team, but those are the games you have to put to bed.

“Performance wise I think we can take a lot out of it, nit-picking this and that is fair enough, but overall we’re getting better.”

Downing has started nine of Rovers’ opening 10 Championship matches, with this the second in central midfield.

He starred alongside Lewis Travis and explained: “I certainly enjoyed it, it felt really good.

“I thought the balance with me and Trav was good.

“He does a lot of the things people don’t see which gives you licence to get forward a little bit and I though the way we played, the way we moved it around, it suited my game. I enjoyed it.

“It would have been nice to have got a win but I think we can take a lot of positives.”