It was a frustrating afternoon for Rovers as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Northampton Town, despite the Blues dominating the game in-terms of chances and possession. Although Rovers failed to defeat the Cobblers, the Blues’ unbeaten run in the league was extended to 17 games.
During his pre-match interview with the clubs’ media team, Tony Mowbray highlighted the importance of his team being focused on the opposition, in order to not take them lightly and potentially cause a slip-up.
The starting eleven that Mowbray picked was unchanged for the third time in a row, as it was the same eleven that had started against Shrewsbury Town and Fleetwood Town. Despite the same starting eleven, there was a change to the bench as new signing Amari’i Bell, who had signed for Rovers last Friday, was amongst the substitutes.
Prior to the game kicking off, there was a minute’s applause in memory of Patrick Cryne, the former owner of Barnsley, Cyrille Regis, the former West Bromwich Albion forward who was a pioneer for black footballers in England during the 1970s and Jimmy Armfield, the former Blackpool forward who was part of the 1966 England squad that lifted the World Cup.
After the respects were impeccably paid, the game was kicked-off by Bradley Dack, which led to Rovers having a lot of possession within the opening 10 minutes of the game as they continually probed at the structured Northampton defence, without creating many opportunities on goal.
The first half-chance came through the good combination play of Bradley Dack and Dominic Samuel. The former did well to control the ball under pressure, turn his man and burst forwards towards the visiting penalty area. He was able to pick his head up and spot his partner in crime, Samuel, who had cut in from his assigned position on the right of the pitch. The ball was played in ahead of Samuel as he tried to latch onto it to try and fashion an attempt on goal, but his control let him down as the ball spun away from Rovers’ number 9.
On the 11th minute, Rovers kept piling on the pressure and Craig Conway’s cross was eventually put out for a corner, which Bradley Dack took. The corner was a poor one as it was headed away by a Northampton man, which started their counter-attack. As the time ticked over into the 12th minute, the Northampton players made their way into the final third of Rovers’ half as on-loan Burnley man, Chris Long, found Joe Bunney, the left-back who had recently joined the Cobblers. The full-back took a touch and got away from Charlie Mulgrew who came to close him down, before putting in a precise delivery towards the head of John-Joe O’Toole, who was able to get ahead of the make-shift defensive line of Rovers to glance a header past the despairing David Raya, to put the visitors 1-0 ahead, against the overall run of play.
The afternoon went from bad, to worse for Rovers as Charlie Mulgrew was taken off in the 15th minute, after a collision saw the Rovers skipper limp off the field of play. In his place came debutant Amari’i Bell, who slotted in at left-back, allowing Derrick Williams to replace Mulgrew – who is set to go for a scan on his ankle, on Monday – at centre-back, alongside Paul Downing.
With the home crowd trying to lift the players after conceding, Rovers went on the attack again, in the 18th minute. Bradley Dack was once again at the heart of the move as he found Craig Conway on the left-hand side. Conway subsequently sent a cross in to the box, which was aimed at Dominic Samuel, but unfortunately for Rovers, the Cobblers ‘keeper Richard O’Donnell, was able to comfortably claim the ball.
As Rovers dominated the play, they kept probing in order to try and break down the Northampton wall that stood in-front of them. On the 29th minute, it was Conway who tested their resolve with an attempt from the edge of the area. Danny Graham received the ball, before turning to find Conway who took a touch before releasing a shot towards goal. Unfortunately for Rovers though, the Scot’s attempt at goal was blocked.
On the 35th minute, Conway once again tested the Northampton backline with a shot off the back of a corner. Rovers powered forward, led by Amari’i Bell, who did well to earn a corner with his surge forwards. The corner was only cleared as far as Conway, by the defenders, which led to the midfielder trying his luck again, but unlike his earlier attempt, which saw the ball deflect off a Northampton man, this attempt whizzed over the bar.
The final chance of the first period came four minutes after Conway’s attempt. Bradley Dack, this time, tried his luck from the edge of the area, but Northampton’s defence were remaining defiant by getting in the way of all of Rovers’ attempts, as Dack’s shot deflected behind for another Rovers corner, which was subsequently cleared.
With Dack’s chance being the last of the first-half, the referee Anthony Backhouse, added on 3 minutes to the end of the first-half, before eventually ending it.
With the first-half coming to an end, Rovers would have been bitterly disappointed to have conceded, let alone to not have scored. Tony Mowbray would have no doubt been praising some aspects of his side’s play, whilst criticising others, but regardless, Rovers had to stay calm and focused if they wanted to achieve something from this game. On the other side of the coin, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would have been delighted with what his side had shown him and would have called for more of the same in the second-half.
The second-half was kicked-off by the visitors, as they looked to see out the next 45 minutes to try and achieve a memorable victory, which would help their bid for survival. The Rovers players, from kick-off, had lined-up with the intent of attacking Northampton from the off.
This was certainly the case, as within minutes of the second period beginning, Bradley Dack crafted a chance for Rovers to try and level the scoring as he ran past the whole defence before putting in a low cross, that was eventually cleared away by the defence.
On the 50th minute, Rovers created another chance as Richie Smallwood floated a ball into the box which was met by the head of Dack in the centre. The midfielder connected to the ball well, but found his header blocked by Danny Graham who had mistimed his jump, in case Dack had missed the ball, which increased the frustration and anxiety amongst the Rovers support.
Five minutes later, Graham and Dack combined to try and draw the score level. The former teed up the latter who struck a venomous shot at goal, which was once again, well blocked and eventually cleared away from goal in order to relieve the pressure.
Amari’i Bell did well, on the 57th minute, to burst past his man and supply a low cross into the box that was aimed towards Dominic Samuel. The forward swung his leg at the ball first time, but failed to make proper connection, allowing the defenders to swoop in and clear the ball away again.
With Rovers increasing the pressure and the tempo of their game, Tony Mowbray made his final two changes as he introduced Adam Armstrong and Jack Payne in place of Richie Smallwood and Craig Conway, in an attempt to add more speed and creativity to try and find a way to unlock Northampton’s defiant defence.
Two minutes after the substitutions were made, Payne and Armstrong linked up as a penalty shout on Armstrong was waved away by the referee. Payne had played a scooped ball over the top of the defenders which Armstrong had latched onto, using his pace. The forward barely managed a touch before being pushed in the back causing him to fall, however the officials didn’t seem to agree with the calls from the Rovers supporters in the stands.
Northampton’s second chance of the game – bar the goal – came in the 63rd minute as Regan Poole attempted to extend his sides’ lead, from inside the box. The ball was played into the box after some fluid play and fell to the feet of Poole who missed the target from close range.
Northampton soon made their first change of the game as Sam Hoskins was retracted and replaced by Daniel Powell, as the Cobblers added more energy to their side in order to keep up with Rovers’ tempo.
Following the change by the visitors, normal service was resumed as Rovers continued applying the pressure, this time through Dominic Samuel, on the 69th minute. The forward was able to craft some space in the box and meet a header which was floated in, however despite the forward’s positioning, his finish lacked dearly, as the header was straight at O’Donnell.
Three minutes after Samuel’s chance, Northampton made their second change of the game as they introduced Sam Foley, in place of Matt Crooks.
As the clocked ticked over onto the 75th minute, Rovers finally found the breakthrough that they had been searching for, for over an hour, as they were headed level courtesy of Danny Graham. The move began with Dominic Samuel, who received the ball from deep and lofted in an inviting cross towards the far post which Graham was able to meet, after climbing above his man, in order to head the ball past O’Donnell and send all four corners of Ewood Park into hysterics.
After the game was restarted, Rovers’ pressure did not die down as they were nearly ahead, minutes after drawing level, through Graham again. A corner was played in and flicked on towards the back post by Paul Downing. Despite being in a good position however, Danny Graham was unable to stretch out far enough in order to give the ball the one touch that it needed to go into the back of the net, as it trickled out for a goal-kick.
On the 81st minute, Amari’i Bell – who was named as the club’s sponsor’s man of the match – combined with Bradley Dack to give the latter an opportunity at putting Rovers ahead for the first time in the game. Bell did well to get past his man again and break into the box before laying it off to Dack on the edge of the area who struck a first-time shot at goal, which was well saved by O’Donnell in the Cobbler’s goal.
Northampton’s final change of the game came on the 84th minute as they replaced Joe Bunney with Gboly Ariyibi.
As Rovers pressed on to find a winner, the referee added on 6 extra minutes to the second-half as Northampton were struggling to keep their discipline in their quest to hold onto a point, but despite the pressure and the anxiety of the crowd, Northampton ended up claiming the point that they had come for, as the referee ended the game, much to the frustration of the home crowd who peppered the official with derogatory chants.
With Rovers only being able to muster a draw despite their plethora of chances, they would have been disappointed with their inability to break down Northampton, especially since Northampton only had the one shot on target to their name, despite their willingness to put their bodies on the line for their club.
With the weekend also being one that included the FA Cup 4th round games, Wigan Athletic were not in action as they faced (and beat) West Ham United, however Shrewsbury Town (who were ironically knocked out by the Hammers in a 3rd round replay), played and beat Plymouth Argyle 1-0, which means that both Salop and Rovers have played the same number of games, but the Shrews have moved up to 2nd place, three points ahead of the Blues and two points off Wigan.
With Rovers and Wigan in action on Tuesday against Walsall and Rochdale respectively, it will be interesting to see whether the gap between the two sides – which is currently at 4 points – will decrease.
