Rovers were rattled by a credible Crewe side, who capitalised on some controversial refereeing decisions, which saw Rovers go down to 9 men by the 56th minute, to force a replay by clawing back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3.
Prior to kick-off, Tony Mowbray talked to the club’s media team about respecting Crewe’s quality, which was duly shown throughout the second-half. Additionally, the manager talked about how he wanted his much-changed side to focus on balancing their attacking duties, alongside their defensive responsibilities.
The ‘much-changed’ side that walked out onto the Ewood Park pitch consisted of seven changes to the side that beat Blackpool 4-2 at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday. The only players that survived the rotation were Ryan Nyambe, Elliott Bennett, Marcus Antonsson and Danny Graham as Jayson Leutwiler, Paul Caddis, Elliott Ward, Scott Wharton, Rekeem Harper, Corry Evans and Dominic Samuel all came into the side as part of the rotation. The bench, much like the first team also saw some alterations, as Andy Fisher, Sam Hart and Lewis Travis all came onto the bench, alongside, Paul Downing, Bradley Dack and Joe Nuttall who were part of the squad at Blackpool.
Rovers got the game underway as they looked to not only extend their unbeaten run, but to advance to the 3rd round of the FA Cup.
The game started brightly for the Blues as Graham and Samuel gained a corner after some early attacking play, that saw Samuel beat the offside trap after Graham played him through inside 3 minutes, but despite the early attack, Rovers had to settle for a corner.
The resulting corner, a minute later, saw Elliott Bennett play the ball towards the edge of the area where Corry Evans was waiting. The Northern Irishman connected cleanly with the ball as he smashed a first-time volley towards goal, however Crewe were able to block the shot and clear the ball, which saw Rovers’ early pressure fizzle out.
6 minutes in, Leutwiler was called into action as Crewe recorded their first shot on goal through Callum Ainley. The 20-year old cut inside from the corner of the box and released a venomous shot towards goal which stung the palms of the Canadian shot-stopper, who managed to hold onto the ball.
A minute later, Rovers nearly went in-front through Danny Graham, who crafted some space inside the box and fired towards goal. Despite the well worked move, Graham was unable to keep his shot on target as the ball ballooned over the bar.
Rovers, on the 11th minute, were able to make their chances count as Dominic Samuel deservedly put Rovers in-front. Elliott Bennett played the forward in after receiving the ball from Corry Evans. Samuel then drove towards goal and turned his defender inside-out with a step over, before accurately drilling the ball, through the keepers’ legs, low into the back of the net to give Rovers the lead.
Rovers soon doubled their goal tally through Danny Graham who was able to cap off his fine start to the game with a goal of his own. After some good possession, Samuel returned the favour to Graham by playing the striker in with a wonderful through ball that eliminated both centre-backs. Graham then let the ball run across him before slotting a first-time strike home – in similar fashion to his goal against Manchester United last season – to put Rovers two goals to the good.
The rampant Rovers continued their first-half dominance soon after, by trebling their scoring shenanigans to go 3-0 ahead on the 21st minute. Much like the goals before it, this one also saw Samuel and Graham combine during the build-up, before one of the two slotted home. This time it was Samuel who would double his goal-scoring tally. Graham picked the ball up, just inside the Crewe half, as Rovers began their counter-attack after an attack by Crewe fell to nothing. The former Sunderland striker’s vision was impeccable as he spotted his partner in crime peeling off the shoulder of Brad Walker, the Crewe centre-back. Graham’s well weighted through ball eventually found its way to Samuel, who used his pace well to get beyond Walker before slotting the ball past the despairing Richards in the visiting goal.
Brad Walker was soon booked after the goal as the centre-back put in a late challenge on Rekeem Harper that drew incredible criticism from the home crowd.
On the 33rd minute, referee David Webb became the villain inside Ewood Park as he gave the visitors a penalty after Chris Porter was brought down by Rekeem Harper, who was subsequently sent off for his troubles. The situation was created after Harper was lethargically caught on the ball on the edge of the Rovers area. The on-loan midfielder was caught out by Tommy Lowery and played in Chris Porter, who was through on goal, before being brought down by Harper. The Crewe forward came within seconds from pulling the trigger before being nudged by Harper, to which the referee judged to be a foul worthy of a penalty and a sending off.
As a result of the foul, Porter stepped-up and took the penalty; which saw him send Leutwiler the wrong way as he easily dispatched the penalty to the right-hand side of the goal to get Crewe back into the game before half-time.
After Rovers went down to ten, a flurry of chances emerged for both sides. The first fell to Rovers on the 36th minute as Graham managed to knockdown Samuel’s cross into Marcus Antonsson’s stride, which sat up perfectly for the Swede to volley. However, despite his best attempts, the on-loan Leeds man was unable to keep his strike on-target as Crewe were given a goal-kick.
Soon after, Crewe were looking to make their man advantage count as they stormed down the right-hand side with Perry Ng. The full-back cut inside from the right and released a shot towards goal that was comfortably saved by Jayson Leutwiler, who, bar the penalty, didn’t have much to do during the opening 45 minutes.
As the first-half came to a close – after 4 minutes of added time was added – Brad Walker came under-fire once more in the first-half as he chopped down Dominic Samuel on the half-way line, which sent the home crowd irate, towards both the player and the referee, who failed to produce a second yellow card for the challenge.
Soon after the challenge, however, the referee ended the first-half and walked off the pitch to a chorus of boos from the home support.
As half-time occurred, both sides would have been wary of the threat of their opponent. Rovers knew, that with a man advantage, Crewe were fairly threatening on the counter-attack as they had the ability to stretch play. In contrast, Crewe would have been thinking that, Rovers, despite being a man down, still had enough quality within their ranks to hurt them and despite the sending off, they would have needed to be aware of the Blues attacking threat. Additionally, however, they would have known that, although they were 2 goals down, there was still 45 minutes to be played which could include a they could salvage something from this game.
Both sides came out for the second-half with new substitutes introduced during the break. Rovers replaced Elliott Ward and Danny Graham with Paul Downing and Richie Smallwood respectively, to try and sure up the defence and midfield. Crewe, on the other hand, withdrew Brad Walker, before he was sent-off, and replaced him with former Rovers academy graduate Eddie Nolan.
The second-half was kicked off by Crewe, who within minutes of the restart, nearly doubled their goal tally to two. Harry Pickering released a curling effort towards goal, which beat Leutwiler, however unfortunately for Crewe, the shot didn’t beat the crossbar, as the ball ricocheted off the woodwork and went behind.
On the 55th minute, Rovers were reduced to 9 men after an altercation between Elliott Bennett and Perry Ng. The defender fell onto his backside after being pushed by Samuel and maintained control of the ball, obstructing Bennett from dispossessing him. A tangle of legs then occurred which saw Bennett fall on top of the Crewe man, before play was continued by another Crewe player, who picked up the ball after the tangle of legs. This led to an off-the-ball incident, in which Bennett had seemingly stood on the full-back, which from both the view inside the stadium and the TV cameras, looked like a poor decision by the referee as the full-back had caused the altercation with his possession of the ball in a sitting position.
Although Rovers were brought down to 9 men, Tony Mowbray introduced Lewis Travis – a full-back by trade – who was making his FA Cup debut for Rovers – after previously making his first team debut in the Checkatrade Trophy – to play in midfield, in an attempt to fend off the advancing Crewe forces.
The red card became a catalyst for Crewe to step up a gear as they soon equalled the scoring with two goals in the matter of 5 minutes, both carbon copies of each other. The second goal, which was scored by substitute Eddie Nolan came as a result of a corner being whipped into the box and Crewe capitalising on their numerical advantage, to make it 3-2. Their equalising goal was also from a corner, however this time, Chris Porter was the scorer, and much like Nolan’s goal, the away side were able to make their numerical advantage count in the box, by rising the highest, in order to level the scoring, which saw Rovers go from a comfortable 3-0 lead, to just about holding onto a 3-3 draw, in the hope they could earn a replay.
From the Rovers restart, the away side continued to put the pressure upon Rovers’ nine men, as virtually all their outfielders were camped inside the Rovers half, whilst Rovers were valiantly defending their box.
Crewe, on the 67th minute, came close as their captain Chris Dagnall fired wide from around 20 yards out as the goal lit up in-front of his eyes. The experienced centre-forward was unable to keep his shot on-target as Rovers were let off the hook.
2 minutes later however, Crewe nearly went in-front for the first time in the game, as they found themselves in the box with a shooting chance on goal. Jordan Bowery’s volley was superbly blocked by Paul Downing, who used his years of experience to position himself perfectly on the line, in order to prevent Rovers from going behind after all their effort.
Despite being on the back-foot, Rovers nearly scored a fourth, as Richie Smallwood drove into the area following an exchange of passes with Paul Downing. The midfielder then tried to fizz the ball across goal to an unmarked Corry Evans at the back post, however Crewe did well to clear the ball out for a corner.
After the corner amounted to nothing, Crewe were once again on the attack, as they forced another brilliant save from Leutwiler. Dagnall again had a shot on goal, which was powerful enough to sting the palms of Leutwiler, who was unable to hold the ball, which was eventually cleared by Paul Caddis.
With 7 minutes left on the clock; Rovers’ blushes were spared as Chris Porter – who had drifted into the penalty area – failed to secure the game for Crewe, as well as grab his hattrick, as his header from close range flew wide of the mark, much to the delight of the home crowd, who felt unjust after the two red cards.
The final substitution of the game saw Callum Ainley be replaced by Lewis Reilly for the closing stages of the game.
The whirlwind game soon ended after four minutes of added time, which saw both sides trying to avoid a replay and place their names into Monday’s draw for the 3rd round. In a summary of the game, Rovers would have felt mightily aggrieved not to be walking away from the game with their name in the hat for Monday’s draw, as the referee had severely cost them that opportunity, with some rather poor calls. Crewe, contrastingly, would have been delighted with how they fought back from a seemingly impossible position, and would be kicking themselves for not securing the result at Ewood Park.
Due to the draw, this tie goes into a replay, which will be played at Gresty Road, on Tuesday 12th December, with a kick-off time of 19:45, in order to see who advances to the 3rd round. The draw for the 3rd round, however, will see Rovers (and Crewe) in as ball number 58, as the team and fans will be hoping for a plum tie of a Premier League giant, if they are able to overcome the tricky obstacle that Crewe proved to be.
Additionally, as a result of this game becoming a replay, Rovers’ intended trip away to AFC Wimbledon, which was originally scheduled for the 12th December, has not been postponed, with a new date to be announced in due course. The next league fixture that Rovers partake in, is on the 9th, as Rovers travel to Peterborough United, who are sat in 7th position.
