As Rovers prepared to head down to south-west London to face AFC Wimbledon, who are teetering above the relegation zone, Tony Mowbray, sat down with the clubs’ media team to discuss the game and reflect on what was a good week for Rovers after beating both Bury and Walsall to put themselves two points clear at the top of the table.
“On the injury front, the players are looking a bit better than they did on Saturday at Walsall. We came in to train on Sunday to assess how the players were feeling. The squad that will travel down to Wimbledon, will remain the same as the one which was at Walsall. Bradley (Dack) trained yesterday, he’s been quite ill and hopefully his energy levels and his strength have recovered quickly after his illness. I think that his enforced rest will help him in the long run, due to the amount of games that he’s played, missing the last game will have given him an opportunity to recharge and put in a performance on Tuesday, because since the first few games of the season, he’s been non-stop for us.
“I think the first 45 minutes at Walsall was up there with one of the best halves we’ve played. We really should have put the game to bed in the first-half and yet it was a blow to lose a goal late on and give them the momentum that they needed to come out in the second period. I think with the illness in the dressing room and the unpleasantness of people being sick at half-time affected us in the second-half as the energy levels dropped quite dramatically, but thankfully we held on and got the three points despite us having a poor second-half.
“Darragh Lenihan, on his return from injury, has given us a different dimension in comparison to when Paul (Downing) played. I think Paul brought us a calmness and a sense of composure, whereas Darragh brings us some dynamism, some power and some aggression, which, I believe we need in certain games to help us over the line. Although Darragh was a miss for the side throughout the season, I have to give a lot of credit to Paul, as he came in and took over the job and we felt as if Darragh wasn’t missed when Paul was in the side.
“Every time I pick a team, I come under pressure to make tough decisions on who to play and who to leave out. The building of relationships within a team is key as the players can then understand that the manager’s job of picking a team is a tough one. If you pick the team and you win, nobody questions you and they all get on with their game and train hard to try and get back into the side for the next game. We’re focusing on the next game and the next three points, we need to make sure we’re ready for them. The training schedules that we’ve got planned is practically seeing us do next to nothing; at times, we might go through some exercises regarding our shape, or set-plays and other times we make the sessions short and sharp in order to get the balance right and keep fitness high in order to concentrate on the games.”
Mowbray was asked whether the players were beginning to feel the pressure and the weight of expectation on their shoulders regarding the push for the promotion spots and the League One title.
“The lads have felt the expectation of the club for a while now and I think they’ve got it on board that we need to get out of this league. They feel the expectations of the supporters and I believe that it’s helping them focus on the games. If you take your eye off the ball for even a second, the games can be taken away from you very quickly. We should all look forward about travelling to London, going to Wimbledon and imposing our style on them and hopefully come away with the three points. It’s not going to be easy as they’re a good side who are very physical, which reminds me of the Wimbledon of old.
“In the reverse fixture at Ewood, earlier on in the season, I felt that we should have picked up something from that game, yet Wimbledon came and did a very disciplined, hard-working and organised job. I like to think that, on Tuesday, Wimbledon will be facing a very different Blackburn Rovers to the one they faced in September and hopefully we can prove that by going there and emerging with three points.”
