Phillip Cocu said it was a case of the same old story for his side as Derby slipped to a fifth straight away defeat without scoring at Ewood Park.

Adam Armstrong’s fine strike from outside the box just before the hour handed Rovers all three points with a 1-0 win making it four straight Championship victories for Tony Mowbray’s side.

Cocu set his side up to contain, playing with three central defenders, and felt they largely did that side of the game well, believing it was his side’s poor play in possession that was ultimately costly.

The result leaves Derby 16th in the Championship.

"It's nothing new. We struggle creating, taking shots on target,” the Dutchman said.

“If we get shots, especially in away games, they're not on target.

"We had a slightly different approach to the game. We wanted to stay in the game for as long as possible, so it was more compact, especially against a team that really likes playing transitions.

"When they win the ball, they score a lot of goals through speedy wingers and (Bradley) Dack is a very clever player.

"That part of the game, the lads did good. But when we had the ball, in the first half, it was unnecessarily sloppy. It wasn't high pressure or very intense from Blackburn.

"We just made a lot of bad decisions - more individual players. We were only, in some rare occasions, capable of getting in positions in offence, where we could do what we wanted to do. We didn't create a lot.”

Cocu believes he saw more from his side after the break as they went in search of an equaliser that would have handed them a point that would have been harsh on the hosts on the balance of play.

Their best chance came late on, Jack Marriott bringing a sharp save from Christian Walton with what was the Rams’ only shot on target.

“Second half, we tried to push more forward and I think we did well,” Cocu said.

"We pushed them back, every second ball was for us. I was waiting for the equaliser.

"We were close to getting the goal but we also had a lack of luck."