WHEN your luck’s out, your luck’s out, but as Rovers reflect on a devastating late defeat which means they remain the only club in the Championship yet to win, you also reap what you sow.

For 94 minutes Owen Coyle’s side had defended resolutely. True they had not done enough to win the game despite Danny Graham having its best two chances.

But in terms of solidness, shape and individual and collective responsibility, it was night and day compared to their previous six matches when they had shipped a shocking 15 goals.

So when they did make a mistake, with the otherwise steady Gordon Greer failing to clear a Ryan Sessegnon cross, the last person they would have wanted the ball to fall to was Tom Cairney.

Cairney did the rest, arrowing a shot beyond Jason Steele and a dagger through the hearts of the supporters who named him player of the year in the first of his two all too brief seasons at Rovers.

It was cruel, it was gut-wrenching and it was undeserved.

But continually selling your best players will always come back to haunt you and that is what Rovers’ under-fire owners Venky’s have done consistently since they cashed in on Cairney in June of last year.

Josh King, Rudy Gestede, Markus Olsson, Jordan Rhodes, Grant Hanley and Shane Duffy subsequently followed Saturday’s last-gasp match-winner out of the revolving Ewood Park exit door.

Cairney aside they all made it clear they wanted to leave and their combined fees, which totalled more than £30m, have helped the club exit its Financial Fair Play embargo and avoid going back into it.

But there has to be a balance and, compared to Fulham, who have used the money recouped for Ross McCormack and Moussa Dembele to become a more rounded team and stronger squad, it is one Venky’s are not getting right.

If they remain at Rovers, increasingly against the fans’ will, the owners have to reinvest.

The £250,000 fee spent on Derrick Williams, who like man-of-the-match Tommie Hoban, had a good debut on Saturday, is not enough.

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More is needed. Not just for the here and now, what with Rovers being bottom and winless after five matches, but also for the future.

Because if this is the way the club is going to continue to operate then more assets are going to have be bought and nurtured as well as produced from within. Loans, unless they are turned into permanent deals, are stopgap measures.

That said Rovers held their own against an unbeaten Fulham side who are now riding high in second after they recorded their first victory in these parts since a 3-1 win in 2005 when Craig Short was sent off for flooring Luis Boa Morte.

The Cottagers, a long-range effort by livewire new £3.8m winger Neeskens Kebano aside, did not trouble Jason Steele.

That said David Button was also tested seriously only once as he turned behind a first-time Graham shot following a fine through ball by Ben Marshall who, having rejected the offer a new contract, could be the next big-name departure.

But while Rovers lacked quality in the final third their commitment and effort could not be questioned.

That was recognised by another low but vocal crowd who gave their full backing to the players while continuing to vent their feelings about Venky’s.

And, with Kenny Dalglish watching on from the directors’ box and with ‘Uncle Jack’s Barmy Army’ raining down from the stands, it did feel as if Rovers would nick a goal and break their duck.

Instead the player who started the Ewood exodus broke their hearts.