Blackburn Rovers boss on 'naughty' Leeds United challenge and Elland Road decisions that angered him

John Eustace said Leeds United benefited from a 'really soft' penalty but was delighted with what he felt was a deserved equaliser for his Blackburn Rovers side.

Having won his last three encounters with Daniel Farke's Whites 1-0, Eustace briefly looked like he would be on the wrong end of the same scoreline.

Leeds were awarded an 88th-minute spot-kick for a challenge on Mateo Joseph and Pascal Struijk stroked home to put the hosts ahead.

But two minutes later Danny Batth scrambled home a leveller from a corner to secure a point for Rovers.

"Great to score a last-minute equaliser," he said. "We defended really well, limited them to next to nothing. We're coming to the best team in the league, best squad of players and to come away with a draw is really pleasing.

“We wanted to be a bit better with the ball, of course we did, but we're missing seven key players. To come here a couple of days after a defeat and perform as we did was really good.

"I thought it was a really, really soft penalty. But the way the lads rolled their sleeves back up and went again was really pleasing, we deserved the equaliser. I don't think we'd have got it if it was at the other end.

“It's a fantastic football club, 36,000 fans, the ref is always under pressure to give a decision. There's a lot of pressure on how we had to defend the box today and we defended it really well. To get the equaliser in the end was brilliant."

Rovers' stubborn defence frustrated Leeds for the vast majority of the game and restricted them to crosses that led to few clear-cut chances.

While they might have looked comfortable in defending for long periods, Eustace was not happy that they were given an extra 10 minutes of action by the officials.

An injury to Jayden Bogle - whose earlier challenge on Yuki Ohashi was described as 'a bit naughty' by the Rovers manager - accounted for some of that in the second half and Blackburn, who had a number of players go down without needing treatment, also took their time from restarts.

"We're very difficult to play against, we pride ourselves on that," said Eustace.

"It's all about carrying on fighting and believing in each other. I was disappointed with that [time added on], I can't remember the last time 10 minutes was put up. I was angry about that. But we wouldn't have equalised if we didn't have that time."

The equaliser sparked wild celebrations in the Rovers dugout that led to a yellow card for the subbed Andreas Weimann, who encroached in the Leeds technical area. Eustace says the celebrations are proof of a bond he's been trying to foster between his squad and the fanbase.