After Rovers came back from a goal down to beat Peterborough United 3-2, Rovers boss Tony Mowbray spoke to the clubs’ media team to discuss his thoughts following a nail-biting game, which included 5 goals and a red card.
“It was a frustrated dressing room at half-time. I think we could have been two or three up inside the first ten minutes to be honest, because we had some fantastic chances. We need to make sure that we don’t make a habit of conceding ‘basic’ goals at set-pieces, like the one we conceded today. The players are managing the dressing room themselves, they feel my frustration, so it’s just a case of creating a balance, where they leave the dressing room on a high and in a positive frame of mind.
“I thought our third goal, was a goal of the highest quality. We’re not happy to have conceded two goals in the manner that we did, but we’re happy with the performance overall and the response after half-time. Charlie Mulgrew is someone with a footballing brain, hence why he keeps getting on the end of set-pieces and keeps finding the back of the net. We work hard in training on all different aspects of the game, we’ve won a few matches by playing a pressing game and scoring goals by nicking the ball off the opposition’s players in their own half. You need to respect the talents of the opposition and you must be good behind the ball and defend well, but I thought our counter-attack was amazing. I thought Peterborough did exceptionally well on the break, as it’s the basis of their game and despite them having a couple of threatening individuals, we were able to overcome them and get the result.
“Our reaction after half-time shouldn’t come as a surprise, as we’ve seen it over the last month or so. We’ve seen a team playing on the front-foot, asking questions of whether our intensity would be matched by our opponents and we’ve been doing well as seen by the results. I thought Dominic Samuel worked hard, he just needs the confidence of consistently scoring goals which will elevate his play. He’s been working hard and did exceptionally well against two centre-halves, but I think Bradley (Dack) and Marcus (Antonsson) supported him well.”
The manager next spoke about Willem Tomlinson, who was thrown into the deep end at half-time after he was brought on to replace the injured Corry Evans, who himself had come onto replace the injured Peter Whittingham.
“I thought Willem was fantastic. He’s a young boy who’s been out of the picture recently, as last year, he lacked fitness because he found himself on the bench for the first team and thus couldn’t get any games for the under-23s. In contrast, this season, he’s played in just about every under-23s game this season and has worked hard in training, which was all shown in today’s game as evidence of the effort he’s put in. It’s now down to him to put the effort in and assert his dominance over the midfield to stake his claim in the side. I think that all the lads did well today. I thought Craig Conway did well to come in after a lengthy spell on the sidelines to replace the suspended Elliott Bennett.
“Peter (Whittingham)’s calf is sore as he pulled it, which led to him coming off. Corry (Evans) has a horrific gash on his knee due to a tackle on the halfway line, and as a result, has had to have 6 or 7 stitches in his knee. Hopefully they won’t be out for too long, and yet Willem’s performance gives me confidence in that it’s something that we shouldn’t overly be worried about. Injuries are part and parcel of the game, so we’ll just have to move on and hopefully they’ll be back soon.”
