Following Rovers’ controversial 3-3 draw with Crewe Alexandra in the 2nd round of the FA Cup, Tony Mowbray took some time to talk to the clubs’ media team which allowed him to reflect on what was, all things considered, a disappointing day for the club.
“I’d have to go back a long way, to the days of muddy pitches and firm tackles, to remember a day like today. I think we can take some positives from the game. We were brilliant in the first half an hour of the match with goals going in with almost every attack we had, but we must give Crewe some credit for the way they fought back.
“I’ll have to go and read the rules of the game after this to be honest, because I’m not sure you can send people off and give penalties unless it’s violent conduct, maybe I’m wrong, but I’m really baffled with the dismissals today. However, I’m disappointed with how we were with the ball outside our own box, prior to Harper’s sending off. In terms of Bennett’s dismissal, it looked to me as if there was a tangle of legs, where two people were fighting for the ball and then Elliott’s got up and gone over their man, which was confusing to me, however we’ll have to watch it back and see whether the referee was right, and knowing Elliott Bennett as I do, I’d be very surprised if he’s deliberately kicked out at their lad.
“We played around 40 minutes with nine men, but we have to give credit to Crewe really, they scored from two corners and got back into the game. The frustration for us of course, is that we’ve racked up another game on the fixture list that we could have done without, but we’re still in the draw and by the time the replay comes around, we’ll assess how we are in the league and how the fixture congestion is, which will determine the team selection. Hopefully we’ll be in a position where we can afford to play a strong team and get ourselves through to the 3rd round.
“You have to be so careful regarding what you say about officials and I don’t earn enough money to be able to pay the fines(!) I just hope that they go home and re-watch the game, re-watch their decisions and then evaluate whether they got it right or wrong. If they re-cap their performances in an effort to improve, then it’ll help everybody in the long run. The replay and the suspensions were the last thing we needed at this moment, and yet after 30 minutes, people were probably fearful for Crewe in-terms of how high the scoring could be.”
Mowbray was questioned about how well Rovers started the game in the first 30 minutes and how he reflected on what was, a better period of the game for the hosts.
“The first half an hour was as fluid as we’ve played recently. We had the two targets up-front in Danny Graham and Dominic Samuel who gave their centre-backs some problems. The stuff we’ve been working on, such as the passing and the movement, was sublime and I think the pair played well today and we got some good goals.
“You can always prepare your team to play with a man down, but you hardly ever prepare to go down to nine men. There are lessons to be learnt from today; we didn’t really engage enough after the dismissals, as we sat behind the ball and encouraged them to put balls into our box which we didn’t defend as well as I would have hoped. Despite being so frustrated, we’ll settle for the replay.
“Rekeem Harper and Elliott Bennett haven’t said a word to be honest. Today has to be a learning curve for young Rekeem. I would have to say that our supporters haven’t seen enough of him, he’s a fabulous athlete and a fabulous technician, but he’ll be disappointed as the rest of the team and supporters are, as if the game had stayed as 11 vs 11, I think it would have been a comfortable day for us.”
