Rovers made it two wins on the bounce as they brushed aside MK Dons on a sweltering Saturday afternoon at Ewood Park, which left the supporters in a jubilant mood.
Rovers went into the game with mixed emotions, as despite their solid performance away at Bradford City last week which ended in a Rovers victory, the midweek game vs Burnley had dampened the spirits of some of the supporters and the Blues were determined to make sure that the confidence they gained from being the first team to beat Bradford in 31 home games, wouldn’t go to waste.
There was only one change for Rovers from their last league outing against Bradford City. Marcus Antonsson came into the starting eleven in place of Bradley Dack who dropped out of the side, the 23 year-old had also missed the Burnley game in midweek due to a tight hamstring he picked up against Bradford. Tony Mowbray opted for another change in system as he swapped the 4-2-3-1 which was successful in the previous league game for a more traditional 4-4-2 as Antonsson partnered Samuel up top for the Blues.
In his post-match interview against Bradford, Tony Mowbray emphasised the need to start quickly and to put MK Dons under as much pressure as possible within the opening minutes and the manager certainly got his wish after 90 seconds as Derrick Williams collected a magnificent outside of the foot pass by Richie Smallwood after MK Dons failed to clear their lines. The left-back then chested the ball down and unleashed a strike from around 25-yards out, the ball skidded across the turf, into the bottom right hand corner of Lee Nicholls’ goal.
Unlike in midweek against Burnley, Rovers certainly look the better side and were on top from the get-go. Their dominance was shown inside 24 minutes, when a good spell of possession ended in a magnificent opportunity for Marcus Antonsson to open his account for Rovers. Elliott Ward received the ball on halfway from Paul Caddis. The centre-half then played a one-two with Corry Evans, before playing the ball central towards Richie Smallwood, who was in a number 10 position. The midfielder’s poor touch inadvertently aided him in creating space to which he ran into and played a first time pass towards Antonsson who had peeled off the back of the Dons defence. The Swede then took a touch and shot towards goal with his weaker left-foot; however Lee Nicholls got down quickly to make a solid save.
Despite Rovers’ dominance, it wasn’t long after Antonsson’s opportunity that MK Dons levelled the scoring. Aaron Tshibola picked up the ball in the centre of the park for the Dons and sprayed the ball out wide towards George Williams, who was overlapping down the right hand side. The full-back chested the ball down and volleyed it into the box, but it struck the leg of Charlie Mulgrew, which diverted it away from Ryan Seager who was lurking behind the centre-back. However the ball fell to Ed Upson, who made a late and relatively unchallenged run into the box which allowed the Dons midfielder to side-foot the ball past David Raya.
Rovers were determined not to let the inconsistencies of Southend & Doncaster to reappear and the fears of the fans were put to rest 4 minutes later when Charlie Mulgrew stepped up and despatched his second free-kick of the season into the right hand side of the MK Dons goal. Elliott Bennett was taken down around 20 yards out and Mulgrew stepped up to put Rovers 2-1 in front, to settle the nerves of the fans.
The game then dissolved into half-time with Rovers heading on top. They emerged from the break with nothing but victory in their minds; however the first 15 minutes of the second half were nothing to shout about, as the first chance of the 2nd period fell to the visitors who were looking for a way back into the game.
It took until the 60th minute of the game until another half decent chance was crafted. Peter Pawlett’s corner was played towards’ Rovers’ far post, where George Williams out-jumped Corry Evans to the ball. The right-back won the header, however was unable to hit the target as his attempts flew wide of Raya’s upright.
Rovers’ third goal looked as if it had been worked on, on the training ground. Harry Chapman, who came off the bench to replace Craig Conway, played in Rovers’ corner towards the head of Elliott Ward. The centre-back out-jumped his marker and headed towards the ground. The sheer pace of the ball from the initial corner caused it to bounce past 2 MK Dons players, straight onto the head of Charlie Mulgrew, who simply had to guide his header towards goal to score. The Scot doubled his tally for the afternoon and gave Rovers the much needed breathing space which was sure to send them to victory.
There was only 6 minutes between Rovers’ third and fourth goals, which officially put MK Dons to the sword. Ben Gladwin, who had replaced Marcus Antonsson, picked up the ball in the Dons half and found Harry Chapman overlapping. The on-loan winger took cut the ball back from the by-line to the centre of the box, where Dominic Samuel was making a late and unmarked run into the box. The former Reading man then had the more difficult job of slotting the ball home past the Dons keeper and two defenders who had positioned themselves on the line to put Rovers 4-1 to the good. Additionally, Samuel’s strike was his 4th in as many games, which was encouraging for the striker who was tipped for big things when he initially signed at Ewood Park.
This stomping victory left Rovers’ 10th in the table, with 6 points from 4 games – 6 points of Peterborough United who are leading the pack. Furthermore, Rovers fans will be hoping that Mowbray’s switch from the lacklustre 5-3-2 to a more prolific 4-4-2 is going to be the way forward for the remainder of the season, which would please a lot of fans that had watched the opening two league games.
