Jon Dahl Tomasson grateful for his surprise match-winner

Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was happy to have an unlikely hero in Callum Brittain after the right-back’s superb curling strike earned a 2-1 victory at Millwall.

Brittain’s first goal for Rovers – his first for anyone in over four years – was enough to ensure his side recorded three wins in a row for the first time since Tomasson took charge 16 months ago.

It lifted Blackburn up to 10th in the Championship, above their opponents, who let an early lead slip in what was their first home game since Gary Rowett’s departure as manager last week.

Tomasson said: “He [Brittain] hadn’t scored – maybe in training once – it’s his first goal in four years, so it’s great to see a finish like that after a switch of play from James Hill.

“So, I’m delighted but I’m almost extremely happy to give our fans a good journey back.”

When asked if Brittain had shown signs that he had a goal of such quality in him, Tomasson said: “I’d be lying if I said yes.

“It was an excellent switch of play, we knew there was space opposite and of course the finish was also excellent.

“We probably could have made it a little bit easier for ourselves and take one of those chances [later in the game] so the game was over, but in the end I think we defended our box against a difficult side who bring a lot of balls into the box.

“I thought we were fighting and showing the right attitude.”

Millwall were ahead after just three minutes when Wes Harding’s header slipped through Blackburn goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt, but his opposite number Bartosz Bialkowski was then at fault for Joe Rankin-Costello’s equaliser.

Brittain struck what turned out to be the winner six minutes into second half when he curled into the top corner after running onto Hill’s long pass.

Millwall interim boss Adam Barret said: “I thought the second half was much better.

“I wanted the lads to play quickly, to move the ball quickly with a little bit of spark and the first half at times just looked a bit edgy.

“I thought the shape was good, you’ve got to be careful against this side because, as we know, they’ve got some very good players and if you get it wrong, they can open you up.

“With the second goal, Joe [Bryan] takes the free-kick, goes down with a groin injury and all of a sudden, they break and score down that side where he would have been.

“Little things just didn’t go for us tonight, but there were a lot of positives, especially in the second half.

“We’ve put a good spell in the game, we’ve now got to do it for longer periods.”