Rovers managed to prevent their dip in form from snowballing with a dramatic 2-1 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park, which saw the Blues go down to 10 men in added time, but concurrently manage to hold on for a priceless victory, much to the delight of the 884 travelling supporters.
During the build-up of the game, Rovers boss Tony Mowbray stated that he was looking for his side to keep more clean sheets in an attempt to try and sure up the defence, to allow the attacking players to excel and although he was unable to do the former, the latter was certainly achieved as Rovers managed to put their defensive woes behind them by scoring two goals.
The side that walked out onto the Fratton Park pitch saw two changes made from the weekend, where Rovers disappointingly drew 2-2 at home to Oldham Athletic; Amari’i Bell and Danny Graham were the two who dropped out of the starting eleven, onto the bench as Adam Armstrong and Dominic Samuel took their places, with Armstrong moving into a wider left position, rather than the striking position he took up after coming off the bench on Saturday. There was also a return to the side for Darragh Lenihan, who found himself in the squad and on bench for the first time since the opening day of the season, following his recovery from a fractured fifth metatarsal, which occurred away at Southend United.
The hosts got the game underway as they were looking to grab two wins from their last two games, after beating MK Dons at the Stadium:mk on Saturday with a 90th minute winner. Additionally, they would have been looking to gain the three points needed to put themselves into the playoffs and prevent Rovers from giving them a 5th home league defeat on the spin.
After only 3 minutes on the clock, Bradley Dack found his name in the referee’s notebook after he flew into a challenge on Brett Pitman, which saw the midfielder pick up a booking for his troubles, meaning that he had to watch his tackling for virtually, the whole game.
2 minutes later, Jack Payne linked up well with Dominic Samuel as the former played the latter in on goal. Samuel was able to break free of the defence, charge down on goal and produce a low shot which, unfortunately for Rovers, Pompey ‘keeper Luke McGee was equal to.
On the 14th minute, Jack Payne kept up his lively start to the game as he was able to cut in from the right-hand side, skip past a defender and release a shot on goal which was well blocked by another covering defender.
7 minutes later, Charlie Mulgrew had a free-kick which he whipped into the box with venom, but saw his effort miss the Rovers players and hit a Portsmouth head, leading to a corner for the Blues.
From the subsequent corner, Bradley Dack whipped the ball in towards the back-post, but the ball was only cleared as far as Richie Smallwood, who latched onto the clearance before sending it back to where it had come, with a cross. The cross found the head of the captain, Mulgrew, who flicked it onto Adam Armstrong. The forward’s task was not one of ease as he lashed it into the top right-hand corner of the goal from around 12-yards out, after the ball deflected into his path, to put Rovers 1-0 to the good.
Minutes after the goal went in, Portsmouth rallied and were straight on the attack through Conor Chaplin, who was leading the line for the hosts. Chaplin received the ball after a Pompey free-kick was flapped at by David Raya to which the forward volleyed towards goal, but saw his effort blocked. Ben Close then tried his luck from the rebound, but Ryan Nyambe did well to deny Close from close range.
With just over half an hour gone, Portsmouth began to find their attacking rhythm as Brett Pitman managed to get past Ryan Nyambe and power a shot on goal, which tested David Raya in between the Rovers posts, as he got down well to claim the ball and stop a potential spillage.
Portsmouth then had their second opportunity in as many minutes as Gareth Evans found space to shoot from, in the Rovers area, but unfortunately for the home crowd, his effort looped high and wide of the goal.
On the 43rd minute, with half-time looming, Evans once again had the chance to try and draw his side level, but much like Pitman’s effort earlier, David Raya was equal to it as the Spaniard did well to deny Evans’ shot which looked destined to find the back of the net.
As the first period drew to a close, referee Oliver Langford added two extra minutes onto the first-half which amounted to, next to no opportunities for either side as Rovers were able to hold their lead as they headed into the half-time break.
As both sides got some rest and some inspirational words during the break, each dressing room would have been receiving contrasting words by their respective managers due to the importance of the three points there were on the line for both sides. The home team’s manager, Kenny Jackett would have been satisfied with some aspects of his sides’ play, but overall would have been disappointed with their attempts to clear Rovers’ corner which ultimately led to Armstrong’s second goal in as many games. On the other side of the coin, Tony Mowbray would have been delighted with the efforts from his side, both offensively and defensively as they managed to grab their goal, whilst maintaining the clean sheet that he talked about pre-match.
As the players re-emerged for the second-period, it was Rovers who got the game back underway and they immediately broke forwards in search of a second goal. With Bradley Dack leading the Rovers surge forward, he managed to break through and earn Rovers a corner, which was well dealt by Pompey, unlike in the first-half.
From the clearance, following some consecutive turnovers in possession, Portsmouth managed to build up a head of steam through a counter attack which had Rovers rocking. A ball was crossed in from the left-hand side, which saw David Raya unconvincingly come out to punch it. His punch only got as far as Anton Walkes who hooked the ball back into the box, which fell to the head of Conor Chaplin who headed home from five yards out.
From the restart, Rovers looked shaky, as within minutes, Brett Pitman found himself through on goal after Ryan Nyambe and David Raya collided after going for the same ball, which saw the former stay down. Pitman meanwhile spared Rovers’ defensive blushes as he somehow managed to put the ball wide with the goal gaping.
Following a lengthy stoppage, Ryan Nyambe was stretchered off to the sombre applause of all four corners of Fratton Park and was replaced by the returning Darragh Lenihan, who continued the game at right-back. In the same stoppage, Jack Payne was withdrawn to make way for Lewis Travis who came on to try and be a link between the defence and the forwards, for Rovers, after he impressed from the bench on Saturday against Oldham.
With just less than an hour gone, Bradley Dack, who was unusually quiet this game, found himself charging towards the Portsmouth goal with attacking intent. He was able to keep hold of the ball long enough in order to release a low and powerful shot, which troubled Luke McGee as he could only palm it to safety.
On the 77th minute, Portsmouth nearly got their noses in-front through Anton Walkes who broke through the Rovers backline and released a shot on goal which went across its’ face and tricked inches wide, as the ball went behind for a goal-kick.
Rovers then had two chances in as many minutes. The first coming through Adam Armstrong who whipped in a brilliant ball towards the back-post, which evaded everybody, but nearly snuck in. Unfortunately for the Newcastle loanee, he wasn’t able to double his tally for the evening as the ball bobbled past the upright. The second opportunity came courtesy of Darragh Lenihan. Charlie Mulgrew had a deep free-kick which he delivered with perfection as Lenihan rose to meet it. Whilst the delivery was a good one however, Lenihan seemingly mistimed his jump by nanoseconds as he was unable to make contact with the ball, which saw it fly out for another goal-kick for the hosts.
By the 85th minute, both sides decided that a change was due as Rovers made their final switch, whilst Portsmouth made their first. Dominic Samuel departed for the visitors and was replaced by Danny Graham, whilst the hosts swapped their goalscorer Conor Chaplin for another forward, in Oliver Hawkins.
After the changes were made, Rovers upped their ante as they pushed for a late winner, which they duly got, courtesy of Adam Armstrong who grabbed his second of the game and his third in two, to send the 884 Rovers fans behind the goal into dreamland. Darragh Lenihan’s cross deflected off Matt Clarke and landed at the feet of Armstrong who wasted no time in placing his shot into the bottom right-hand corner of McGee’s goal to surely win the game for Rovers.
With Armstrong’s goal coming as late as it did, it would be easy to think that Rovers would have gone onto win the game in comfortable, undramatic fashion, however with Rovers, that was never going to be the case. As the fourth official held up a minimum of 7 minutes of added time, the Blues had to try and do their best to hang on to their lead and secure the three points needed to aid their promotion push.
Although securing the points was a priority, Lewis Travis seemed to have other ideas as he decided to add to the drama on the 92nd minute by getting himself sent off for a horror challenge on Nathan Thompson, which saw Mr. Langford produce the red card following some scuffles between the players. The challenge was one which Travis will look back on with regret, during his 3-match ban, as he flew in with his studs high and could have snapped Thompson’s leg in half, had the contact been any worse.
Portsmouth soon made their second substitution by bringing on Matty Kennedy in place of Jamal Lowe, in the hope that they could salvage a point in the four minutes of added time that remained.
With everyone behind the ball for Rovers, just to add to the drama, Pompey’s final attack saw their claims for a late penalty waved away by the referee, which would have no doubt frustrated the fans and coaching staff of the home side.
With the 7 allocated minutes being played, the referee called an end to a non-stop game, which was end-to-end, from start to finish, but ultimately saw Rovers rewarded for their efforts and their ruthlessness.
With this win, comes three valuable points which sees Rovers go within touching distance of Wigan and Shrewsbury, despite remaining in 3rd place. During this round of games, Wigan suffered defeat at home to the hands of Blackpool, whilst Shrewsbury managed to snatch a victory away at Fleetwood Town, which has blown the race for the League One title – and automatic promotion – right open. With their victory, Shrewsbury have managed to dethrone Wigan and top the table themselves as they move onto 64 points. Wigan on the other hand are level with Rovers on 63, but have 2 games in hand over the Blues, as well as a superior goal difference. With the Latics having their two games in hand over Rovers, and one over Salop, fans of the latter two will be hoping that Wigan can slip up a couple more times before Rovers hosts them on the 4th March at Ewood Park.
After having two games in the space of 3 days, Rovers now have a prolonged rest period of 5 days until they are next back in action, which is on the Monday 19th February where they play hosts to both Bury and the Sky Sports cameras as the Shakers make the short trip to Ewood Park to continue their fight for survival. Once the Bury encounter is complete, Rovers then travel to the Banks’s Stadium, 5 days after that, to face Walsall on the 24th February.
