Tony Mowbray praised his Blackburn side for battling their way to a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest with a stretched squad – and expressed sympathy for his opposite number Chris Hughton.
Blackburn saw 12 players leave over the summer, while making only one new addition. Forest had 14 players depart, with Hughton's squad just bolstered by three signings.
Daniel Ayala's opener was cancelled out by Philip Zinckernagel's 69th-minute thunderbolt before skipper Darragh Lenihan sealed the points for Rovers with a header four minutes from time.
"It is not the free-flowing football that we are capable of, but we lost 12 players over the summer and only replaced them with one. But in adversity they are sticking together and fighting, which is what you want," said Mowbray.
"In fairness to Chris (Hughton), I don't really recognise this Forest side either, this is not the team we saw here last season; this was not a team full of experience, this was a Forest team with a lot of young players.
"In defence of Chris, he is having to use a lot of young players, as we are as well. You could feel the atmosphere here and the expectancy of the crowd.
"We have a big heart, we fight together as a team. We have a small group and that gives us tightness and togetherness, which is what helped us to win here.
"We are short of numbers, we have recently given a few kids squad numbers – young lads who had not previously trained with the first team. But we have to add some numbers. Because if injuries come, the results won't."
Hughton refused to use a lack of new additions as an excuse, but did concede that they are very much required after Jordi Osei-Tutu limped off injured and fellow full-back Jordan Gabriel was sent off for two harsh yellow cards.
"I can't say that we are being punished (for not doing business) because there are plenty of other clubs in the same situation," said Hughton.
"As any manager would, you would want to get your business done early. But it has been difficult for many clubs to do that. I would have preferred us to have done our business before now.
"But we are striving to do business as soon as we can. In the meantime, it is my responsibility to make sure we do enough in games to get results. We have fallen short on that front.
"The squad needs strengthening, there is no doubt about that. We are light with options, certainly in the defensive area.
"We need to dig deep, we need to pick up one of those wins that you maybe don't deserve.
"The unfortunate thing is that we have to look at the negatives. The positives are that this is a younger group, the youngest group we have had in some time.
"It is good for their development. But we also know that this is a tough division."
