Rovers made it 6 wins on the bounce in the league for the first time since 1994-95 after edging past a nervy Charlton Athletic side, who played their part in creating an agitated atmosphere within the last 20 minutes at Ewood Park.
The atmosphere at Ewood was the main topic of Tony Mowbray’s pre-match interview, as he urged the fans to create an atmosphere – similar to the ambience created on the road – which would help the side battle through the uneasy final moments of games.
The side Rovers lined-up with, only saw one change to the team that started the 3-2 win over Peterborough United, 7 days ago. Peter Whittingham, who came off injured against the Posh, was replaced by Corry Evans, who was the man who replaced the former Cardiff midfielder last week. Evans, however, managed to recover from an injury he subsequently sustained last week, to start this game.
The game was started by Rovers, as they looked to close the gap on the top two, in the hope of heading into the final few games of 2017 with the chance of finishing the year in the automatic promotion spots.
The first chance of the game fell to Josh Magennis, who had started the game lively. The Republic of Ireland international released a strike from around 30 yards out, which didn’t trouble Rovers as the ball flew wide.
The 6th minute saw Rovers create their first opening. Derrick Williams drilled a low ball in from the left, in the hope of one of his teammates getting a touch on the ball to turn it in. Bradley Dack was the full-back’s target, however the midfielder wasn’t able to make contact with the ball despite his best efforts, as the ball was conceded back to the visitors.
8 minutes after Rovers’ attempt, Charlton had one of their own in the 14th minute. Jay Dasilva – on loan from Chelsea – laid the ball off to Billy Clarke, who struck a first time shot towards goal, but despite the well worked move, Clarke was unable to strike the ball cleanly as his shot flew over for a goal-kick.
The first shot on target came minutes after Clarke’s attempt, and it came through Rovers’ liveliest player, Bradley Dack. The midfielder picked the ball up inside the Charlton half and charged towards goal. Although the 23-year old continually turned his defender inside-out, his opposite number forced him out wide. That didn’t stop Dack however, who did well to cut inside and release a shot from the top of the box, which looked destined for the net, had Ben Amos in the Charlton goal not caught the ball to keep the game goalless.
Soon after, Rovers were on the attack again as they did superbly well to counter-attack a lacklustre Charlton side. Raya’s quick release found Antonsson who ran down the left-hand side before delivering an early cross towards Dack – eerily similar to the third goal against Peterborough United – and although Dack was able to find the back of the net last week, lightning didn’t strike twice, as he skewed his shot wide of the mark.
On the 23rd minute, Rovers had a penalty shout waved away by Geoff Eltringham, the match official. Antonsson whipped in another delicious ball towards the far-post, aimed at Dominic Samuel, who flung himself forward to try and win the header. Although the striker failed to connect with the ball, there were shouts from both the players and the fans for a penalty as Samuel seemed to have been pushed into the back by his marker, yet the referee disagreed.
27 minutes in, Charlton were forced into a change due to injury as Billy Clarke was taken off and replaced by former Rover, Leon Best, who in his 3 years at Ewood Park, only managed to play 16 games, scoring 2 goals in the process.
Despite the Rovers fans introducing Best with a chorus of boos, it was to be the home side who would create the next chance to break the deadlock. Antonsson, yet again, provided another cross from the left-hand side, which was aimed towards Samuel and unlike the previous effort, Samuel could connect with the ball. Much like the previous efforts in the opening 15 minutes, Samuel was unable to make solid connection as his header lacked enough power to trouble Ben Amos.
With the home crowd increasingly becoming more and more anxious with their team, Rovers were able to ease their nerves by finding the back of the net on the 30th minute and went a goal ahead, courtesy of the Charlton substitute, Leon Best. A Charlie Mulgrew free-kick was whipped into the area from around 25-yards out, which caused chaos in the Charlton marking. As a result, Best outjumped the Rovers players and was in the wrong place at the wrong time as the ball ricocheted off the forwards’ head and flew into the back of the net, much to the delight of the home crowd, who subsequently began to mock Best with chants and jeers.
5 minutes after the goal, Rovers had another free-kick, which was again taken by Mulgrew. This set-piece forced Ben Amos into action more than the one that led to the goal did, as the former Manchester United shot-stopper did well to deny Rovers a second goal.
The subsequent corner should have seen Rovers go two goals to the good, as Bradley Dack’s corner was played in towards the near post, which saw the ball be flicked on and fall to Derrick Williams, who somehow, with the goal gaping, fired wide.
Charlton had a corner of their own which reached the far-post, minutes after Rovers’, as the ball was whipped in towards the far-post and met by the head of Josh Magennis, who was unable to make something of the chance, as his attempt nestled into the side-netting, as Rovers were rattled by the ease of which the chance was created.
Counter-attacks seemed to be a theme of this game, and Rovers created another one, through Craig Conway who ran around 60-yards before releasing a shot from the edge of the Charlton penalty area, however much to the 32-year old’s dismay, the score remained at 1-0 after Amos produced a comfortable save.
Charlton nearly found themselves on level terms on the 42nd minute mark, but for a magnificent save by David Raya. Leon Best received the ball and did well to bring it down before laying off Ben Reeves, who only had the keeper to beat, but unfortunately for Charlton, Raya got down low quickly to deny the Northern Irish midfielder.
After the referee had added on three additional minutes to the first-half, there was only time for one more chance before the break commenced. Craig Conway – who was looking lively after returning from injury – lofted in another of his trademark crosses towards the back-post, which found Derrick Williams who had stormed forwards, but the left-back was unable to make his efforts count as his cross-cum-shot veered wide for a goal-kick.
Both sides would have headed into the break disappointed with their efforts, Rovers due to their failure to increase their lead, and Charlton due to their inability to retain possession, keep a clean sheet and put their stamp on the game.
The players of both teams soon re-emerged for the second-half after the 15-minute interval, as Charlton geared up to take the kick-off.
Although Charlton started the half in possession, it didn’t take long for Rovers to regain possession as by the 48th minute, they had created a series of corners, which culminated in a Mulgrew header going wide.
David Raya was soon called into action once again as he made a double save to deny both Chris Solly and Leon Best, which were arguably better saves than the one he made from Reeves in the first half. Solly struck the ball on the turn from the edge of the Rovers area, which Raya could only parry into the path of Best, who – despite being offside – struck his follow-up straight at the ‘keeper, who had done well to get up quickly and spread himself in the seconds he had available.
Rovers’ defence were put to the test again, on the 52nd minute, by Leon Best, who did well to close down and dispossess Charlie Mulgrew. After gaining possession, Best stormed into the area and shaped up to shoot, before having the ball stolen away from him by Paul Downing’s spectacular recovery sliding tackle.
As Charlton readied for their corner – which ultimately amounted to nothing – Rovers made two changes in their forward area as Danny Graham and Joe Nuttall were introduced in place of Dominic Samuel and Marcus Antonsson.
Following the change and the corner, Rovers were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Charlton area, which Mulgrew stood up to take, after Williams was tripped whilst making an underlapping run. Despite the defender’s positive scoring record however, he opted to cross the ball in, rather than try a shot himself, however the ball was eventually cleared by Charlton.
Rovers’ final change came soon after, as Corry Evans was replaced by Willem Tomlinson, who was increasing his game time in the first team as a result of some impressive performances.
On the 76th minute, Tomlinson showed why he had his manager’s faith at such a young age, as he played Craig Conway in with a lofted ball into space. The winger – who only had the goalkeeper to beat, as he cut in from the right – opted to take on the shot with his weaker left-foot rather than play the ball across goal into the path of either Dack or Nuttall who were streaming in, however the Scot’s shot dragged wide.
Charlton then tried to get back into the game with a change as Karlan Ahearne-Grant came on for Mark Marshall in order to create more threat in the wide areas.
As the final 5 minutes of the game approached, Charlton began to pile on the pressure as they created two chances inside 4 minutes. The first chance the visitors created came through Jake Forster-Caskey, as he released a shot from the edge of the area which was comfortably saved by David Raya. Their next attempt came from the wide area as a cross came into the middle and was met by Best’s head, but the former Rover’s header ballooned over the bar.
The game hit the 90th minute mark, and the referee added an extra four minutes of added time, which saw the Ewood Park crowd become more and more edgy as their side looked to be on the back-foot for the final minutes.
Their edginess would soon turn to relief as Danny Graham and Joe Nuttall superbly combined to finish the game off for the Blues with the last kick of the game. Nuttall picked the ball up around 30-yards out after a Charlton defender’s header fell into the striker’s path. He then took a touch and dribbled wide of the goal, whilst pushing the ball beyond another defender, into the limited space of the penalty area, using his pace, strength and fresh legs to beat the man. After forcing the goalkeeper to close down the angle by becoming attracted to the ball, Nuttall then simply dinked the ball across the face of goal, perfectly into the path of Danny Graham who just had to head it in, in order to turn away and celebrate, which he did emphatically.
With the points wrapped up, the referee blew for full-time seconds after Charlton had restarted the game.
This victory, whilst it didn’t change Rovers’ league position – as they remain in 3rd with 43 points from 21 games and a positive goal difference of 20 – with both Wigan and Shrewsbury winning, showed Rovers’ intent on wanting to keep the spirit in the dressing room going and also showed the desire of the team to do well, even when they’re caught in tight games which could change in an instant. With Rovers only one point off Shrewsbury and five points off Wigan heading into the busy festive period, the Blues players and fans will be hoping that Wigan slip up due to the fixture congestion so that Rovers can swoop in and occupy top spot ahead of Shrewsbury.
Rovers’ next fixture in their congested festive fixture list, sees them travel to Northampton Town to face the Cobblers next Saturday (23rd), before returning to Ewood to host Rochdale on Boxing Day.
