Tony Mowbray’s men turned up the pressure on the top two, after beating Rochdale 2-0 in a Boxing Day which was less than glamorous on the eye. Despite the game being one which won’t stick long in the memory, Rovers managed to grab all three points which saw their unbeaten run stretch back to October, where Rovers haven’t tasted defeat in the league for 12 games.
Rovers made three changes to the side that earnt a point during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Northampton Town, as the captain, Charlie Mulgrew, who overcame an illness which saw him drop out of the side on Saturday, minutes before kick-off, returned to lead his teammates out. Corry Evans also returned to the starting eleven after recovering from an injury and additionally, Elliott Bennett also made a comeback following a 4-match suspension. They all came in for Elliott Ward, Peter Whittingham and Craig Conway, respectively, who all had to make do with a spot on the bench.
Rovers kicked-off the game with the hope that they would be able to do the double over Rochdale and pile further misery onto the Greater Manchester side who currently find themselves in 23rd place within the division.
The first attempt of the game fell Rovers’ way after some early pressure created a half-chance on the 13th minute. A long ball was played forwards and nodded down by Danny Graham who managed to set-up Marcus Antonsson for a volley on the edge of the area, however the forward only managed to side-foot the ball, as a result of being under pressure and he saw the ball fly high and wide.
On the 16th minute, Rochdale got a chance of their own to open the scoring in the game as they earnt a free-kick around 25-yards out, which Callum Camps took, however the Rovers players in the wall did the job that they were assigned to do, as they blocked Camps’ shot and cleared the ball.
With chances being incredibly scarce at Ewood Park during the first 30 minutes, the next chance of the game, led to the first goal of the game. The goal saw Bradley Dack wheel away in celebration as he managed to poke his side in-front after some good build-up by Rovers. Elliott Bennett managed to intercept a poor throw by Rochdale which saw the winger pass to Dack in the middle of the Rochdale half. The 23-year old swivelled after shrugging off a challenge, and charged towards goal before playing in Marcus Antonsson who had drifted in from the left. The Swede wasted no time as he played a first-time ball back to Dack who shot first-time from just outside the 6-yard box. Dack’s shot cannoned off Josh Lillis in the Rochdale goal, before ricocheting back off the unfortunate Kgosi Ntlhe, which saw Rovers go a goal to the good.
Despite replays revealing it was an own goal, the goal was credited to Dack on Rovers’ website, which – if stands – will see the midfielder’s seasonal tally increase to double figures with his 10th goal of the season.
It didn’t take long for Rovers to double their advantage on the 43rd minute, and effectively, put the game to bed, with Rochdale not being much of a threat to the hosts. The 2nd goal came courtesy of a penalty which was won by Elliott Bennett and dispatched by Charlie Mulgrew. Elliott Bennett did well to close down Lillis in the goal who took his time and overplayed inside his own area, before having his kick blocked by Bennett, who did all he could, to round the ‘keeper in order to score. Lillis, however was not going to be beaten easily, and he clearly nudged Bennett in the back before claiming the ball. Thankfully for the Rovers supporters, the officials saw the push and awarded Rovers a penalty, which saw Mulgrew step up and coolly dispatch into the right-hand side of the goal for his 9th of the season.
After the game was restarted, the referee soon added two minutes of time on the end of the first-half, but the whistle wasn’t blown before Rochdale created another chance to reduce the deficit. Callum Camps was once again in the heart of the move as he made some space on the edge of the Rovers area before trying his luck from just outside. His shot however, was lacklustre as he saw his shot fly wide of the target.
With not a lot of action in the game – barring the two goals – the referee called time on the first-half, which would have come as a relief to the travelling fans as they would have expected their team to re-group during the interval and come out for the second-half with an altered, or completely new, game plan in order to try and attack Rovers without leaving themselves too exposed. Rovers on the other hand would have been pleased with their first-half performance as, despite the lack of chances, they scored the two that mattered the most, to go in-front.
The second period was soon resumed by Rochdale, who took the kick-off and it didn’t take long for the away sides’ intensity to increase as their best attempt on goal so far in the game, came in the 50th minute. Rochdale managed to force Rovers’ defence open through Oliver Rathbone’s effort, which looked destined for the net had Paul Downing not intervened with a superb block, to keep Rovers’ clean sheet intact.
4 minutes after Downing’s block, David Raya was called into action as he made a good save to deny Rochdale’s skipper Ian Henderson from close-range in order to keep Rovers’ advantage over their visitors at two, rather than one.
Rovers soon had their first chance after the interval on the 57th minute, through Derrick Williams. The left-back made a great overlapping run to drag away a defender and create space, before making an underlapping run and finding himself just inside the penalty area. Whilst making his underlapping run, he was played through by Bradley Dack, which saw the defender’s eyes light up as he found himself through on goal. With the ball at his feet, Williams powered his shot towards goal, but it turned out to be too high as it smashed off the top of the bar and went out for a Rochdale goal-kick.
The ball going out of play triggered some changes within the Rovers ranks as Tony Mowbray looked to freshen up his midfield, with the thought of resting some players for Saturday’s game against Scunthorpe United. Rovers made two changes as Willem Tomlinson and Craig Conway were both introduced in place of Corry Evans and Marcus Antonsson, respectively.
With Rovers making changes, Rochdale decided to make all their substitutions on the 62nd minute in the hope of coming back into the game. Steven Davies, Joe Thompson and Matt Done all came on for, Keith Keane, Jordan Williams and Brad Inman.
On the 65th minute, Danny Graham nearly brought the Ewood Park crowd to their feet with an acrobatic attempt. Dack brought down Bennett’s cross into Graham’s shooting range. The forward then composed himself and attempted the overhead kick, which flashed agonisingly wide of the left-hand upright.
That chance proved to be Graham’s final act in the game however, as he was swiftly substituted for Joe Nuttall minutes later.
The game soon dragged on, into the closing stages with both sides cancelling each other out, but on the 87th minute, Joe Nuttall nearly further extended Rovers’ advantage in the game, but narrowly missed the target. The forward was played through, after beating the offside trap, with only the ‘keeper to beat, but the 20-year old wasn’t able to find the back of the net as the ball trickled wide.
Bradley Dack soon created the moment of the match as he cut in from the right-hand side. The midfielder picked the ball up on the right and dribbled past 4 players, whilst also nutmegging one. After re-collecting the ball, following the nutmeg, he powered into the box, but met the goal at a tight angle. With his confidence being as high as it is, he tried to toe poke the ball across goal, in the hope that it would either deflect in off a defender, or be tapped in at the back-post by Joe Nuttall, however neither occurred as the defenders managed to successfully clear the ball.
With the second-half being extended by three minutes, Joe Nuttall had another chance to make it three for Rovers as he tried his luck from the edge of the area, however Lillis, in the Dale goal, was equal to it.
The referee finally brought the game, which was by no means a classic, to an end.
As mentioned previously, with Wigan and Shrewsbury facing each other, Rovers needed to guarantee three points in the hope of staying in touching distance to table-topping Wigan, and with their game ending as a goalless draw, the result was perfect for Rovers’ current scenario. Currently, the league sees Wigan lead the way with 52 points and a +37 goal difference, whilst Shrewsbury are sat in 2nd, have 48 points and a +16 goal difference. Rovers are currently 3rd with 47 points and a goal difference of +20. With all three clubs having played 23 games, Rovers will be hoping that Wigan can drop a few more points – as they did against Shrewsbury – in the hope of keeping their title dreams alive.
With the festive fixture list being one of constant games, it’s not long until Rovers are back in action again, as they host fellow promotion rivals Scunthorpe United at Ewood Park on the 30th, who find themselves 2 points behind the Blues in 4th.
