Clean sheet means so much to the manager
The sense of perfectionism that coursed through Chris Powell's post-Wolves comments was best illustrated in his frustration at not being able to keep a clean sheet.
Sure, the relief and delight of only a third league win of the season were palpable in equal measure as he fist-pumped on the Molineux turf at full-time but Bakary Sako's late goal proved a source of irritation that he had failed to shake off by his pre-match press duties for the Ewood Park trip.
This performance - and in some respects the result - will have pleased Powell just as much as the 3-1 success as he was able to claim another clean sheet, something neither Mark Robins nor interim manager Mark Lillis were able to achieve in games managed eariler this season.
It really is a simple equation but clean sheets = guaranteed points and, while the manager is not preaching a defence-over-attack philosophy, he is right to correct the flaws that existed in this Town side prior to his arrival.
With the exception of the anomaly that was the derby-day disaster at Leeds United, the performances and results he has overseen paint a bright picture of the new man's reign to date.
Jordan Rhodes no-show a credit to Town's defensive resolve
The striker they said Town should fear most in Blackburn blue and white this weekend was one they used to cherish in Town blue and white in Jordan Rhodes.
After all, he has five goals in four matches - including one hat-trick - against Town since switching clubs in an £8m deal back in August 2012, making for pretty impressive reading.
And yet it was difficult to escape the belief that, for once, this talented frontman had simply been swallowed up in the occasion of facing some of his old team-mates.
Intriguingly enough, only Alex Smithies, Joel Lynch and Sean Scannell remain from the Rhodes era from Town's starting XI at Ewood Park but the goalkeeper's familiarity with the striker told as much through his correct guess at which corner Rhodes would go as it was in his woeful spot-kick, which he pulled well wide of the target.
On the day, Town were largely comfortable from a defensive persepctive and it was actually the pace of Joshua King which proved most troublesome, particularly initially so to both Mark Hudson and Joel Lynch.
And that is perhaps the most accurate insight into why Rhodes failed to turn up, as Town's ability to force him into submission and play a largely peripheral role encapsulated their defensive upsurge.
Mark Hudson the catalyst behind defensive masterplan
And at the centre of that progress from a rearguard perspective has been a signing Powell played his part in securing as he closed in on the managerial berth - Mark Hudson.
Powell has promised Murray Wallace first-team opportunities at the heart of the backline but all signs would appear to indicate that his inclusion would have to come at the expense of Joel Lynch, particularly on this evidence after Hudson excelled once again.
His battle-hardened nature was epitomised by the manner in which he rolled up his sleeves and went again after suffering a nasty-looking hand injury after a first-half clash.
If anything that proved to be the kick-start Town needed as Rovers began brightly but the delay in the game caused by the gash settled Town into a rhythm, and unsettled their hosts in the process, and Hudson seemed similarly reinvigorated.
His second-half block from King, following some desperate defending just prior, bordered on the quite frankly remarkable as he somehow managed to slide in at the 11th hour and deny Joshua King what looked to be a routine tap-in and proved just the tonic for Town to hold out for a merited share of the spoils.
Alex Smithies deserves the plaudits
The audible groans amongst Town fans about one of the club's currently most successful academy graduates have grown steadily across the season.
Presumably their belief is that Joe Murphy, very much the No.2 just now, should have been given chances to prove his worth after a few errors from the bona fide first-choice shot-stopper.
While you could not definitively suggest his blunders - the one against Leeds United perhaps the most costly from recent memory - are uncharacteristic, he is hardly committing them on a regular basis.
And while Powell may take great pleasure from a clean sheet, no-one will bask in them as much as Smithies, for whom this was just a second of the campaign.
If you consider the old adage that clean sheets are to goalkeepers what goals are to strikers, you could forgive him for enjoying this moment and he certainly warrants it after a string of fine stops.
After the ball had spun around his penalty area, he showed the sharpest of reactions to leap across goal and keep out Lee Williamson's drive which was arrowed through a cluster of players at a vital stage of the second half.
The save that probably did not accrue as much acclaim was his point-blank smother to stifle King after he had broken free but it was ultimately just as critical.
Powell shows his flexible side
The groin injury suffered by Jonathan Hogg was hardly ideal preparation for the game given his renewed and increased influence over the last two games, but it opened the door to Powell to field Grant Holt and Nahki Wells as a a partnership from the very start in what looked to be an extremely bold-looking 4-4-2.
And while it was more of a case of the Lord Mayor's show for Holt after his Wolves exploits, the tactical switch acted as yet more confirmation of Powell's nous for approaching each game and each opponent with a different strategy.
His decision to take Wells out of the starting XI could have backfired spectacularly on him after the diminutive striker's two-goal haul against Millwall, but he was vindicated in his gameplan and though this was more out of accident than design because of injury, the same concept applies to the Ewood stalemate.
The natural decision was to seemingly bring back Wells but he could have brought Danny Ward in as an auxiliary No.10 or even the returning Radoslaw Majewski to continue with a 4-5-1 shape of sorts.
Instead Wells' presence placed pressure on the midfield to stay compact as a unit in front of the back four.
Given Powell's ostensible reluctance in the past to refuse to entertain a 4-4-2 with Harry Bunn and Sean Scannell on the flanks, the fact that attacking formation was utilised against Millwall when Holt came on from the bench and for a full 90 minutes yesterday reveals an increased confidence and trust about Town's new manager in his players.
