Rosler anger over Town show

Town defeated a young Blackburn XI 1-0 at Highbury, watched by just 382 spectators in the Parkside Stand, the only side of the ground which was opened.

Devante Cole netted the only goal in first-half stoppage time as Town gave debuts to loan signings Kyle Dempsey and (off the bench) George Glendon, while there was a first start for Martyn Woolford.

And Rosler accepted that the introduction of new players could have affected his side’s fluency in this first of three group games.

The head coach added: “We had relatively new players who have not been in many training sessions because we’ve had so many games lately, so I understand how we started the game.

“We were not keeping the ball well enough in the right areas but we still had three or four chances early on.

“When we went to three at the back and five in midfield we had our best period. We looked very positive and we opened them up.

“But credit to Blackburn, they worked us out and in the second half our midfielders couldn’t get on the ball.

“They put pressure on us by winning lots of second balls and they made us go long.

“They deserved at least one goal, so a draw would have been the fair result. They were a young, energetic and ambitious team with good players.”

Rosler could take comfort from a second straight win to build on the victory at Southend in League One last Saturday.

He said: “The win in the main thing and we are starting to get into the winning habit. We have to work really hard to keep the momentum.

“But I need players to be there when their chance comes round and perform, and we have not performed as we can as a team today.”

Rosler did not sound as though he was expected any deadline day transfer activity when asked by The Gazette.

He said: “I don’t think anything will happen. Maybe there will be something going out but I don’t think anything coming in. That would be a surprise.

“My priority is always to make this squad better and add quality but sometimes the right player at the right price is not available, and it’s very likely nothing will happen on Wednesday.”