SAM Allardyce was bitterly disappointed with his side as they suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City.

Rovers went into the game at the Britannia Stadium in good heart off the back of two wins and a draw, but that run quickly ended with a below par display.

"I am very disappointed in our overall performance," said the Rovers boss after the game.

"The players weren't as good as they should have been by far today.

"We didn't stop Stoke doing what they wanted to do, we didn't defend properly.

"The first one we didn't mark the men correctly, we had worked for two days on this and we didn't do our job.

"Higginbotham was free on the back post and you have to give him great credit for the finish but we should have had someone near him.

"We go 1-0 down it isn't the end of the world and we should have come back. We had Franco's header from six yards out that has to be hitting the target.

"We had a flurry of corners, six on the trot, huge amount of pressure. Chris Samba hits a monster header, it is going into the back of the net and Whitehead puts his arm out and knocks it the other side of the post.

"That is another major decision that has gone against us in seven days, but you can't blame the officials for our defending on their second goal just before half time.

"It was poor defending on the far post by Givet who should have easily seen that one out and it is an uphill battle from there.

"Then of course we bizarrely get Chris Samba sent off. I don't know why he got his first booking.

"So all in all it has been a really disappointing day indeed."