Rovers made it four wins in as many games after beating Lancashire neighbours Blackpool 4-2, which secured the Blues’ place among the top 6, going into this weeks’ FA Cup tie. Rovers also extended their plentiful goalscoring run on the road by making it eight goals in their last two away games.
In his pre-match interview, Tony Mowbray had commented on Blackpool’s counter-attacking strength and warned Rovers that they had to be on the ball in order to get anything from this game; and judging by the performance, it seemed that the manager’s words had paid off.
The team that started at Bloomfield Road saw Danny Graham and Elliott Bennett come off the bench to replace Joe Nuttall and Corry Evans respectively, who had to make do with roles as substitutes. In a change of dimension to the Rovers play, Peter Whittingham, who was making his 100th career appearance, was moved central, in contrast to Saturday where he was deployed on the left, in order to make way for Bennett.
The match was started by Blackpool, who were looking to extend their 3 match unbeaten run, and it was to be the home side who snatched the first opening at goal. Sean Longstaff, on-loan from Newcastle United, struck an effort from distance in the hope he could increase his seasonal goal tally to 5 and give his side an early lead inside 4 minutes. His attempt however lacked accuracy and sailed comfortably wide of David Raya’s goal.
Rovers then fashioned their first chance straight from the goal-kick, as the ball eventually found its way to Bradley Dack, who laid the ball off to Richie Smallwood. The former Rotherham United midfielder then took aim and struck a well hit shot from the edge of the area, however despite the midfielder’s ability to score from the edge of the area, ‘Pool goalkeeper Ryan Allsop was equal to the effort.
The home side showed their attacking intent on the 7th minute as the quick start to the game continued with Nathan Delfouneso’s attempt on goal. The former Rover was passed the ball inside the area. He then managed to control it well and release a snapshot on the turn, which, unfortunately for the home side, sailed wide of the mark.
Following up from their close calls, the Seasiders chalked up their first attempt on target on the 13th minute. Oliver Turton managed to force David Raya into a solid save with an effort from the edge of the area, however despite the Spaniard’s best efforts, he couldn’t hold onto the ball, which saw Sean Longstaff advance for the rebound and although the midfielder was first to the ball, he was unable to make his chance count as his effort flew wide.
The first goal of the game, which fell Rovers’ way on the 26th minute, was off the back off Blackpool’s defensive calamity. The home defence’s attempt at retaining possession failed, as a back-pass towards ‘Pool keeper Allsop fell short of reaching the on-loan Bournemouth keeper. This error simply allowed Marcus Antonsson to capitalise, to put Rovers ahead and to grab his fourth goal in as many games.
Rovers’ lead however, didn’t last for more than 5 minutes, as the hosts were level after half an hour. A free-kick by former Rovers loanee Jay Spearing was lofted high into the area, only to be met by the head of Kelvin Mellor, who, after outjumping all of the Rovers defenders, used the power of the cross to simply guide his header into the far corner of Rovers’ goal to level the scoring.
The Tangerines – with their tails up – nearly managed to grab a second, minutes after their first. Jay Spearing was once again the composer of Rovers’ issues as he struck a sweet free-kick from the edge of the Rovers area. Thankfully for the 2,217 travelling fans, David Raya, used his cat-like reflexes to magnificently deny the home side the lead.
The first-half then rolled on with neither side having a definitive chance to go in-front, despite the home side creating half-chances that were either blocked, or spooned wide. It took until the final few minutes of the first 45 to see Rovers enter their next gear as a they created 3 chances in quick succession, which culminated in the away side going into the break, with the lead.
The two chances came during the same passage of play; from a corner. Charlie Mulgrew whipped in an in-swinging corner which looked destined to sneak in, inside the near post, if not for ‘keeper Ryan Allsop who managed to deny Mulgrew from putting Rovers ahead. The ball was then cleared, only as far as Elliott Bennett, who was aiming to score against Blackpool in successive seasons – after netting Rovers’ goal of the season for 2016-17 against them in the FA Cup last season – the midfielder’s volley was sweetly struck, however Allsop once again stood strong to deny Bennett.
The 2nd Rovers goal, which was scored by Bradley Dack, came from another defensive catastrophe by Blackpool. The defence once again shot themselves in the foot as Sean Longstaff, who dallied on the ball, was closed down by Dack. Longstaff soon decided to play the ball long, however his effort cannoned off Dack and allowed the Rovers playmaker to run beyond the loanee and slot the ball past Allsop to put Rovers back in-front before the break.
Both sides entered the break with off the back of a high intensity first half, which showed, both, glimpses of quality and frustrating defending. Despite the history between Gary Bowyer and his sides’ opposition, he would have no doubt been telling his Blackpool players, during the break, to do everything they could to in order to try and turn the game around. In contrast, Tony Mowbray would have been pleased with his teams’ performance up to the break. He would have no doubt told his players to end the game as soon as possible by scoring a third goal.
Both sides remerged for the second-half and it didn’t take long for the first chance of the period to occur. After Dack restarted the game from the kick-off, Rovers controlled possession and managed to get the ball into the box. A lofted ball was met by Danny Graham, who forced a save from the busy Allsop in the ‘Pool goal, after producing a looping header.
Rovers produced a great piece of counter-attacking play in the 56th minute as David Raya found Antonsson – who had set off down the left-hand side – with an early release of the ball. The Swede claimed the ball after a Blackpool defender failed to intercept the pass and stormed down the wing. He then cut inside and shot towards goal, however his strike diverted agonisingly wide of the net as it struck the post and went out for a goal-kick.
Bradley Dack nearly grabbed a second, 5 minutes after Antonsson struck the post, as the midfielder produced an effort which was well blocked by the hosting keeper, who was doing more than enough to earn his wages, despite conceding two goals.
In spite of Allsop’s valiant performance in between the Seasider’s sticks, two soon became three for Rovers as Charlie Mulgrew slotted home a free-kick which meant that the former Celtic man furthered his goal tally to 4 goals in 3 games. The free-kick was given after Richie Smallwood charged into the penalty area and was tripped by a Blackpool defender. The referee, however, adjudged the foul to have been committed right on the edge of the area, which perfectly set up Mulgrew for his 7th goal of the season.
Three, nearly became four for Rovers on the 66th minute as Danny Graham got on the end of a cross that saw the striker head the ball towards goal, only to see his effort cleared by a retreating defender.
A minute later however, three did become four as Paul Downing grabbed his 1st goal in Rovers colours. A corner aimed towards the far-post, was headed across goal by Charlie Mulgrew, which Dack got on the end off, but the midfielder’s shot was blocked on the line by a defender. The home side then failed to clear, which resulted in the ball popping up to a free Paul Downing who had the simple task of stroking the ball home to secure the result for Rovers, sending the travelling contingency behind the goal wild in the process.
From the restart, Blackpool managed to get the ball into the net off of another Kelvin Mellor header, however referee, Andy Madley, spotted a push by the Blackpool goalscorer and immediately ruled out the goal.
This signalled a change of personnel for Blackpool, who brought on Dolly Menga and Danny Philiskirk in place of Jimmy Ryan and Nick Anderton respectively, as Gary Bowyer hoped for some change in fortunes with his substitutions.
Despite Rovers being in control of the game, Bowyer would have been silently praising himself, as 5 minutes after introducing Danny Philliskirk to the game, he scored to give ‘Pool a route back into the tie with a quarter of an hour still to play. The striker was played through on goal before a shift in direction bamboozled Paul Downing, who failed to recover, as the substitute slotted the ball past a despairing David Raya to make it 4-2.
Three substitutions then occurred in the space of four minutes as Rovers withdrew Danny Graham and Peter Whittingham for Joe Nuttall and Rekeem Harper respectively, whilst Blackpool swapped Sean Longstaff for Callum Cooke.
Rovers nearly made it 5 on the 82nd minute as Dack’s strike was blocked by a defender, before his rebound was met by Antonsson, who once again forced a save from Allsop in the ‘Pool goal.
The final chance of the game came 3 minutes from time as a Rovers counter saw Harper, Bennett and Nuttall all link up. Harper played in Bennett who lofted in a cross towards Nuttall at the far-post, however despite Rovers’ clinical goalscoring nature on the evening, Nuttall was unable to give Rovers a 5th, as he headed wide of the mark.
After 3 minutes of added time was allocated, the referee ended the game, which saw Rovers wrap up their 4th victory in as many games. In addition to the spell of victories, this result extended the Blues’ unbeaten run to 9 games, dating back to the 1-0 loss away at Oldham Athletic, on the 14th of October.
Following this result, Rovers move up to 4th in the league on 37 points, 3 points behind Shrewsbury Town in 2nd and 5 points behind Wigan Athletic in 1st. With a positive goal difference of 17 and high morale, as well as momentum, Rovers and their fans will be hoping that they can continue their winning run in the FA Cup on Sunday 3rd December, as they welcome Crewe Alexandra for the 2nd round of the competition. Additionally, the next league fixture falls on the 9th, as the Blues travel to Peterborough United, who find themselves in 7th after their early season form, which saw them become early pace-setters, petered out.
