Rovers were unable to start their 2018 off with a win and three points, as a late goal by David Ball dampened the spirits on Rovers’ promotion push as they were held to a share of the spoils at 1-1, following a valiant Rotherham display.
With this game coming two days after the draw with Scunthorpe United, the team that Rovers selected saw a number of changes; Peter Whittingham, Ryan Nyambe and Marcus Antonsson all dropped out – the latter due to injury – and were replaced by Corry Evans, Paul Caddis and Craig Conway, respectively. Due to the illness that spread around the camp, Joe Nuttall was not available for selection, which instead saw 18-year old, Daniel Butterworth make it onto the bench, in the hope that he could come on and make an impact similar to that of Nuttall’s.
Rotherham were the side that kicked-off the game, and with the 1,821 Rovers fans making the short-trip to Yorkshire, they were hoping that their side could repeat the performance of the reverse fixture at Ewood Park, where Rovers defeated Rotherham 2-0.
Rovers’ first attempt at goal came within the opening 3 minutes, as Elliott Bennett was fouled on the edge of the area, which gave Rovers an early chance at going in-front from the set-piece courtesy of Charlie Mulgrew who had claimed the ball and was lining-up the attempt. However, unfortunately for Rovers, the Scot’s effort – and subsequent follow-up effort – were blocked and cleared away.
From the 10th minute mark, Rotherham had upped their game and began to battle Rovers as they created their first couple of chances once the clock had entered double figures. Their first attempt at goal of the game came from Semi Ajayi, who got on the end of a corner and headed towards goal, but it was easily caught by David Raya, who barely had to move in order to deny the Nigerian.
With the ball being cleared by Raya, it soon found its way to the feet of Will Vaulks who struck a well-hit shot from range which saw Raya scramble across his goal in order to make a save and concede another corner, which subsequently amounted to nothing. Despite that, it was clear that Rotherham were not going to lie down and simply withstand Rovers’ pressure, without creating some chances of their own.
As time ticked on, with not much going on, the game suddenly burst into life at the sight of some goal-mouth action in the 25th minute. With a Rovers corner being played in towards the far-post, Bradley Dack got on the end of it to force a save from Marek Rodák in the United goal. The Slovakian was unable to hold the ball, which fell to Derrick Williams, who had three bites of the cherry and was each time, superbly stopped by the on-loan Fulham man in the Rotherham goal.
As Rotherham regrouped, they went immediately on the attack in search of the goal to break the deadlock. Josh Emmanuel – on loan from Ipswich Town – received the ball on the right-hand side and delivered a pin-point cross onto the head of David Ball who was unable to keep his header on target, as the home crowd saw their best move of the game, breakdown.
On the 31st minute, Rodák once again did well to deny Derrick Williams, who could have had a brace heading into half-time. The Irishman picked up the ball on the left and cut inside to create a shooting angle. With the defender showing him space, Williams was able to release a shot towards goal using his weaker right-foot, however unluckily for him, Rodák was in full focus as he did well to deny the full-back and concede a corner, which again, amounted to nothing.
7 minutes after Williams’ attempt, Rotherham were on the attack again through David Ball. The 28-year old did well to break into the area, shrug off his man and curl a shot towards the far post, which just went wide. Despite Rovers’ perceived dominance, it was quite clear that the hosts were capable of springing a surprise attack on the break, so it was important that Rovers concentrated and focused before the break, where they could regroup their concentration and their ideas.
With both sides pushing for an opening before the break, neither were able to craft a solid chance that could see them go in-front prior to the half-time whistle, which came after an extra one minute of time was allocated. Although Rovers were seemingly in the ascendancy in terms of possession and chances created, as mentioned, Rotherham looked capable of going ahead, due to the strength of their counter-attack.
Rovers kicked-off the second-half seemingly full of vigour and intensity and it was shown early doors as they created two chances in the opening 6 minutes of the second-half. The first chance came from a corner which saw Danny Graham rise to meet Charlie Mulgrew’s delivery, however the forward was unable to increase his tally to three goals in two games as his header ballooned over the bar.
Rovers’ second attempt came from the left-hand side, when Derrick Williams floated a ball in towards the back-post aimed at Elliott Bennett. The full-back was able to find the winger, whose header was nodded wide, which relieved the early second-half pressure off the hosts.
On the 58th minute, Rotherham decided for some changes in personnel, as they brought on Joe Newell and Jonson Clarke-Harris for Ryan Williams and Jerry Yates, in the hope that their forward options could be freshened with the introduction of the substitutes as they aspired to break the deadlock.
In correspondence to that, Tony Mowbray made two substitutes of his own minutes later, as he replaced Craig Conway and Paul Caddis with Dominic Samuel and Ryan Nyambe, with the manager clearly thinking that Nyambe and Samuel’s pace were going to be key in unlocking Rotherham’s unmoving defence.
It didn’t take long for Rotherham’s defence to be unlocked however, as on the 66th minute, Bradley Dack officially moved into double figures for the season – as his goal against Rochdale was chalked off by some media outlets as an own goal. Richie Smallwood had collected the ball and was able to play Dack through after a mix-up at the back for Rotherham saw the midfielder – who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday – through on goal and with no pressure on him, he calmly slotted the ball past the despairing Rodák in the Rotherham goal to put Rovers ahead.
With Rotherham urgently looking for an equaliser as the clock ticked down, Charlie Mulgrew was forced into a challenge which saw him pick up a booking on the 77th minute.
The 85th minute arrived, and with little action in the game, both sides decided to make changes in order to try and swing the game in their favour. Rotherham brought on defender Michael Ihiekwe for Richard Wood, as a last-ditch attempt to be a target-man up top, whilst Rovers threw on Elliott Ward for Danny Graham in an attempt to counter-act what Rotherham had done, as Rovers changed to a 5 at the back.
With all three substitutions made for both sides, Rotherham began to pile on the pressure through copious amounts of long balls, which saw one turn into a corner for the hosts, on the 89th minute. The corner was soon taken and was aimed towards the back-post which saw it flicked on into the feet of David Ball, who had slipped between the fingers of the Rovers defenders and only needed to touch the ball in order to find the back of the net, which he duly delivered as he stabbed home the equaliser to break Rovers’ hearts and send the AESSEAL New York Stadium wild.
No sooner was play restarted, the fourth official indicated that 5 minutes of time was going to be added onto the end of the game, which set the game up to have a grand-stand finish. Disappointingly though, this was not the case, as Rovers had seemingly run out of steam.
The home side tried to push for a late winner through Richie Towell, who had volleyed the ball towards goal with what seemed to be the final kick of the game, but his ambitious effort flew over the bar, leaving both sides to settle for a point each as the referee soon blew for full-time.
With the result, no doubt being one of disappointment for Rovers, they still find themselves in 3rd in the table, however the gap between themselves and Shrewsbury Town seems to be forever increasing, not to mention the gap to Wigan Athletic, in 1st. From 25 games, Rovers have 49 points, which is 5 points off of Shrewsbury who have 54 points and 7 points off of Wigan who have 56 points. Despite there still being 21 games of the season left to be played, Rovers will need to act fast in order to iron out their defensive mistakes which has seen them drop 4 points in their last two games and that’s not factoring the sloppy set-piece defending that saw Northampton go 1-0 up in December. With set-pieces clearly being Rovers’ achilles heel, Rovers fans will wait and see as to how Tony Mowbray reacts to this.
Additionally, with the transfer window opening, it’ll be interesting to see who the gaffer targets and – if possible – brings in to strengthen, an already close-knit squad. With Mowbray already confirming that he’s placed two bids in for players who are ‘out of contract’ come May, it leaves many fans guessing whether these players are Paul Downing and Harry Chapman, or potentially some new faces that have slipped from under the supporters’ radar.
Rovers’ next game however, sees them take a break from action in the league, as they host Championship side Hull City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup on Saturday 6th January. If Rovers can overcome Nigel Adkins’ side, then it’ll cause a lot of questions over whether Rovers can compete at the level above if they manage to gain promotion come the end of the season.
