During the build-up to Saturday’s much anticipated 2nd vs 3rd clash at Ewood Park, where 3rd placed Rovers play hosts to 2nd placed Shrewsbury Town, Tony Mowbray, who was set to take charge of his 50th game for the club, sat down with the clubs’ media team to discuss the match and how it would play out, with Shrewsbury being the surprise package of the division.
“I think it’s important not to overly stress one game, because we still have another 20 left after it which can throw up different scenarios. We could be within two points of Shrewsbury or eight points from them, yet I don’t think either scenario is defining because we’ve shown over the course of the season, after such a poor start, that we shouldn’t fear anyone in this league and that we can win a lot of games on the bounce as we have done. We had a lot of games last month, but we have to keep going. We try to win every game, yet it’s a challenge we’re really looking forward to.
“With some of the injuries we’ve picked up to Corry Evans, Peter Whittingham, Marcus Antonsson, Darragh Lenihan and Ben Gladwin, it’s led to some of the kids coming and training with us, which has helped increase the intensity of training, which is only a positive, as they all look really sharp. We’re looking forward to it, as we do towards every game, but if we win, I’m sure we won’t get carried away, but if we lose, I’m sure we won’t get carried away either because we must keep going and try to get the three points in every game.
“It’s important that this game is at home, because it allows us to try and play on the front-foot and ask questions of Shrewsbury. We’re very mindful of their strengths and their qualities as they’re obviously a good side, but we take a lot of confidence out of the fact that, despite losing the first two games of the season, we’ve lost something like 2 in 23 games, which shows that we can beat anyone on any given day. I’m not sure if us winning will have any psychological effect, as for us, we’ll just keep going to the next game. Shrewsbury have looked like a strong and consistent group from what I’ve seen whilst studying them, so I don’t know what type of impact a loss would do to them.
“I saw a stat the other day that said Shrewsbury had three or four more points now, halfway through the season than they did for the whole of the last campaign, which is a huge credit to them as they’ve obviously done something right. I think they’ve got some good players, with a specific way of playing, which suits the players they’ve got. A huge credit should go to their manager and coaching staff who have managed to change the mentality of the club, from a relegation threatened side last season, to a promotion fighting side, this season. There’s still a long way to go, but we’ll be applying ourselves to maximum effort to try and get the three points.
“It is a big game, as 2nd are playing 3rd in the league and hopefully the supporters will come in big numbers and get behind the team which would help impact the performance levels as they have been doing throughout the season. The fans have been there whether we’ve been flying high and scoring goals, or when we’ve been pegged back and had to graft hard for a goal or to keep a lead, so let’s hope we can put on a really good performance at the weekend which they can enjoy.”
The manager was made aware that Saturday’s game would be his 50th in-charge of the football club, as was asked to sum up his half-a-century of games as Blues’ boss.
“I come to work every day, I work hard, I do what I do in football management. I think every club has its own identity, or problems or issues behind the scenes, but what I think about this football club is that it’s a really good club, with a lot of good people working here, who care about it. I enjoy coming into work and I’ve enjoyed it from the first day. I think the players have shown a great attitude, even in the disappointment of relegation and I think the players showed a wonderful desire and appetite to try and stay up last year and with the points we acquired in the 15 games I was in-charge for, we would have comfortably been in mid-table and yet it wasn’t to be. Despite that, I think the players we’ve managed to keep have continued in the same vein and although we’ve had to build a new team, it’s been an enjoyable experience as they’ve taken on board everything we’ve said to them since the start of the season. Although we had a poor start to the season, they reacted and have done brilliantly to give us a chance to get out of this division, which we’re on course to do.
