Wayne Rooney offered no excuses, but admits Derby County were 'all over the place' at times, in their defeat at Blackburn Rovers.

Rovers scored three times in 238 against a shell-shocked Derby, with Bradley Johnson scoring twice on his return to Pride Park after Tyrhys Dolan opened the scoring.

Adam Armstrong added a fourth late in the piece to round-off a perfect afternoon for Tony Mowbray's side who backed up their 5-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers.

Rooney, who was robbed off possession countless times by Rovers' pressing game, said:  “I can’t make any excuses, it wasn’t good enough and all I can say is we will work hard to put it right.

“I am not going to stand here and say we will win the next three, four or five games, but we are working hard to get better.

“We will take the work we do this week into the Norwich game next Saturday and try to get a positive result. That is all I can say, I am not making any excuses for and it hurt all of us.

“Right now as we stand here, it isn’t a great feeling for any of us.”

Dolan's opener came in the 11th minute, with Johnson's third coming within four minutes, but Derby had their moments early on, with Darragh Lenihan clearing off the line from Max Bird.

And Rooney said the game hinged on those moments.

He told his club's website: “We started the game well and could have gone 1-0 up but within a few minutes we were 3-0 down. At that point we were chasing the game.

“It is not nice when you lose and it is not nice to lose at home. We have to learn, it is a bad start to the three games and no wins.”

Rovers could have scored more than the four they managed, and after their quickfire goals they looked hungry for more, firing in 23 shots in all, with David Marshall making some smart saves in both halves.

Rooney, booked for a challenge on Elliott Bennett in the second half, said of that first half spell: “We were all over the place and we conceded three goals.

“We managed to create a couple of chances after that, which was surprising because having a blow like that when you concede three goals that quick is tough to take.

“I can’t stand here and say ‘we did this’ and ‘we did that’. We lost 4-0 and it was not good enough. We all have to improve, we have to improve on a few things in terms of how we are during the game and I think a lot of basic errors are costing us that we need to cut out.”