BIRMINGHAM boss Trevor Francis was forced to admit his team were beaten by a better side last night as Rovers' 2-0 victory turned up the heat in the race for automatic promotion.

Goals from Marcus Bent and Damien Duff -- either side of half-time -- brought to an end a run of five straight League victories for the Blues.

But, even more importantly, it means that Rovers are now on the same number of points as their Midlands rivals but with a vital game in hand.

"We didn't want to lose this match but, when you lose to a good team like Blackburn, then it's slightly easier to accept," said Francis.

"The balance of the side was affected by the loss of Stan Lazaridis on the left hand side and you can't legislate for losing someone as influential as Michael Johnson so early on in the game.

"But I don't want to make excuses. Blackburn did very well, they went away with the three points, and they deserved it.

"I think overall, there wasn't that many goalscoring chances in the game because I think you saw two defences who knew how to defend. But a couple of bits of brilliance by Marcus Bent and Damien Duff ended up winning it for Blackburn.

"We had our moments and both keepers made one or two decent saves.

"It was always going to be difficult once they scored their second so early.

"We needed a break in the second half but it didn't come.

"So we've got to accept the defeat and try and pick ourselves up now because we've got some important games on the horizon."

Of Darren Purse's injury-time dismissal, Francis added: "I didn't see the incident but someone said he might have raised an elbow.

"If that's the case then there's not much I can say about it -- he deserves to go."