Rovers ran rampant at the Ricoh Arena away at Coventry City in the Blues first cup game of the campaign. The Carabao Cup, more widely known as the League Cup, is the 2nd of 4 competitions that Rovers will be taking part in this season, and the players & fans alike will be delighted at the result.
Rovers, in the end, ran out comfortable winners at League Two Coventry as two summer signings opened their accounts for the club; Richie Smallwood & Dominic Samuel. The game was a feisty cup affair, with many of the players still trying to increase their fitness levels to the maximum, however that didn’t stop Rovers from putting on a show for their travelling contingency who made the trip down to the Midlands on a weekday to follow their team. The 620 Rovers fans, who were in full voice from start to finish were delighted with how the team applied themselves as they rebounded strongly after a disappointing opening day defeat to Southend United, as the Lancashire club continuously peppered the Coventry goal all evening.
The Rovers team changed slightly due to a change in system with 4 changes to the side that faced Southend on the 5th; Injured duo Darragh Lenihan & Bradley Dack made way for debutant Paul Caddis and the returning Corry Evans, whilst Danny Graham and Peter Whittingham dropped to the bench in place of Liam Feeney and Elliott Ward. As a result of these changes, a change of system was needed, as Rovers traded in their 4-2-3-1 for a 3-4-3, which saw Paul Caddis & Derrick Williams take up the intense wing back roles, whilst Richie Smallwood & Corry Evans were given the job of marshalling the midfield, whilst Liam Feeney, Elliott Bennett & Dominic Samuel were given the attacking duties.
Unlike at the weekend just gone, Rovers didn’t allow Coventry a lot of the ball – whilst also restricting them to few chances – and this was shown by the possession stat of 64% by full time, with the playing surface being a wide pitch, it allowed Rovers to quickly come into the game and play a passing game that they were used to playing at home at Ewood Park.
Despite a header on goal by Coventry’s Maxime Biamou falling straight into the gloves of David Raya off the back of a free kick that was whipped into the box, Rovers started brightly as it only took Rovers just 16 minutes to open the scoring through the returning Corry Evans, who had missed a lot of last season through recurring injuries, as well as a lot of this year’s preseason. The Northern Irishman scored a cracking volley with his weaker left foot after winning back possession on halfway. After tackling a Coventry man and threading the ball through to Liam Feeney, Rovers drove forward in search of the opening goal. Feeney found an overlapping Caddis, who laid the ball off to an onrushing Evans, whose poor first touch inadvertently assisted him in propping the ball up to a volleying position to which he lashed at the ball, putting Rovers 1-0 to the good.
Rovers then attempted to reinforce their dominance on the game as Dominic Samuel, on his return to the Ricoh Arena, had two consecutive shots on goal. The first came through some wonderful passing by Rovers as the ball was fed out wide by Smallwood to Caddis, who once again was overlapping down the right hand side, he played it inside to Elliott Bennett, who turned his man and played a beautifully weighted through ball, through two defenders to an unmarked Dominic Samuel, who had managed to bend his run so that he remained onside, however the former Coventry loanee wasn’t able to tuck the ball home as Liam O’Brien made a good save. Samuel’s second attempt came a minute later. Elliott Ward, who was also returning to a former ground, gave the ball to Bennett, who laid it off to Samuel, who was looking bright down the middle as opposed to on the weekend where he was stranded on the right; he then turned his man and drove forwards towards the Coventry box. The Southwark-born forward then struck a solid shot from around 30 yards out, which stung the palms of the Coventry keeper.
On the 22nd minute however, Coventry’s tails were up. New Coventry signing Duckens Nazon, who joined the Sky Blues on loan from Wolves, opened his Coventry account on his first start for the League 2 side. Nazon played a one-two with marauding fullback Jack Grimmer, after leaving 2 Rovers defenders standing in his wake. The fullback then received the ball and hammered it towards goal, which brought out a stellar save from David Raya, however Nazon remained unmarked in the box, and was able to casually sweep the ball home for his first goal for the hosts.
This put Rovers in a peculiar position as fans began to have flashbacks to last season, where Rovers lost the lead, and went on to lose in many games. However this wasn’t to be the case in this game, as after going close from a few attempts from Charlie Mulgrew, Corry Evans and Dominic Samuel, Rovers broke the deadlock once again with a deflected effort by Richie Smallwood.
The new signing, who arrival has sparked creativity among the fans as they sang his name, picked the ball up on the edge of the area after Coventry failed to clear their lines, and shot towards goal. However, a deflection off one of the centre-backs wrong-footed the Coventry keeper, who could only watch as the ball, hit the back of the net, sending the travelling crowd wild.
Half-time came and went, but Rovers’ dominance remained into the second half as the shots on Coventry’s goal increased. Nevertheless, the inevitable third goal arrived for the Lancashire side on 56 minutes as Dominic Samuel opened his account with Rovers at a ground where he scored many goals. A cross-field switch by Liam Feeney to Paul Caddis on the opposite wing opened up the play for Rovers, allowing Samuel to be in a position to collect the cross. The cross arrived at the feet of Corry Evans who touched the ball down to Samuel. The striker then wriggled through two defenders to get his shot away, unfortunately for O’Brien in the Coventry goal, another deflection sent him the wrong way as the ball trickled into his goal, sealing a place in the second round for Rovers.
By full-time, Coventry were still on the back foot as the introduction of debuting substitutes Ben Gladwin & Jack Doyle added more pace to a game that was already won for Rovers. However both put in impressive cameos as Doyle had an effort saved by the keeper, whereas Gladwin’s silky dribbling created a host of chances which Rovers were unable to take.
The victory sealed Rovers’ place into the draw for the 2nd round, which will be drawn on Thursday 10th August; Rovers will be hoping for another League Two side in the hope that a victory would continue to boost the morale of the players & fans.
Regardless, attention now turns to the league for Mowbray’s men as the Blues welcome Doncaster Rovers to Ewood Park, on the 12th of August for the first home game of the new campaign, where Rovers will want to take the momentum gained by the cup win, into the league, in order for them to assert their expected dominance.
