Birmingham City co-caretaker manager Malcolm Crosby has commended the "fantastic" effort put in by his side during their 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

A Ben Marshall strike was enough to earn Rovers the three points against the Blues, who sacked Lee Clark on Monday after just one win in 11 fixtures.

Clark has been replaced by Crosby and Richard Beale for the remainder of the week, and Crosby, the club's chief scout, believes that the Championship side deserved a point at Ewood Park.

The 60-year-old told the club's official website: "I thought that the effort that they put in was fantastic. People would have thought that we would crumble after going down to 10 men, but we didn't and we could have scored an equaliser.

"I can't fault the players for their commitment and some of their play was very good as well. I thought that it was a good performance, and on another day, we would have got a point out of it."

Birmingham remain in 21st place in the league table after Tuesday's fixtures.