Prior to Rovers’ anticipated clash with Championship side Hull City in the 3rd round of the Emirates FA Cup, Tony Mowbray took some time to speak with the clubs’ media about the challenge that Hull would bring. Additionally, the manager also spoke about the injuries in the squad and how they were getting on.
“I think it’s still a big game for us, we should go out there and test ourselves against an opposition from a higher division, but we shouldn’t get too disheartened if things don’t go our way. We’re still frustrated with the late equaliser we conceded against Rotherham, but we’ll prepare the team for the weekend and see how it goes.
“We need to be mindful of the Shrewsbury game which we play on the following Saturday, so we’ll have to pick a team that won’t potentially damage our momentum in the league. We just need to get the balance between the two games right. It’s good for us that there isn’t a game in midweek between both fixtures which allows us to have a proper week’s break in the build-up to Shrewsbury. This game allows us to test ourselves against a Championship side, a team who were in the Premier League last season, so it’s a big test for us, but one that we’ll go and attack, which will see a result by the end of the 90 minutes in order to avoid a potential replay. We’ll just see how it goes, we’ll approach the game positively, but we’ll also be mindful of the quality they possess. But regardless of the result against Hull City, the league is our main priority this season.
“A lot of our players have a lot of Championship experience, some on the other hand, don’t, so it’ll be a good learning experience for them. We just have to go out there with a positive mind-set and try and get a result like we normally do. I haven’t begun to study Hull at this moment in time as we’ve had a break after the busy league fixtures, but we’ll know everything about them by kick-off on Saturday and hopefully we can come out with a positive performance and a positive result.”
The manager also gave an update regarding the injuries to Marcus Antonsson, who was injured against Scunthorpe United and Darragh Lenihan, who has been out injured since the opening day of the season.
“Marcus has been for his scan and it turns out that he has ligament damage in his ankle, so I would presume that he would be out for up-to 3 weeks, however everyone’s body reacts differently to injuries, so we’ll just have to monitor him and see how he gets on. He’s going to be a big miss for us as, not only does he have the athleticism to play out wide, but he also has the prowess and goal-threat of a centre-forward which gives us the feel of having two strikers on the field, even though we’re only really playing with one. Although he’s picked up an injury, a natural break for him could be a blessing in disguise as it will allow him to properly rest following the hectic fixture scheduling, so hopefully he’ll come back fit and hungry.
“Darragh is doing okay, he had a little set-back with his injury last week, but he’s back in the gym doing some running which will help him slowly progress with his recovery. I would hope from now on that it’ll be a smooth process for him as his injury has near enough healed, but he has to now gradually regain his fitness in the gym which will soon lead onto different ways of recovering before he can eventually get back on the ball and engage in various training sessions and games.”
