Round 3 vs NWST: Board 6

The game quickly entered an endgame stage. In between both sides had and missed possibilities to take a lead. At some point Pete found himself in a rook endgame and a pawn down. In the following position it is black to move:

Pete had to choose between Rc8 to defend his c6 pawn or Re8 forcing a rook trade. He forced a rook trade and ended up in lost pawn endgame.  The computer valuation drops by one full pawn on positional grounds if black trades rook.  From a pracitcal point of view we know we want to keep pieces on the board if we are down material.  But here it is even more drastic .  Winning a rook or rook and queen endgame being just one pawn up is extremely difficult.  So in the interest of maximum resistence the rook should have remained and drawing chances remain high.