Following Rovers’ 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Bury, Tony Mowbray spoke to the clubs’ media team regarding the performance and how the side managed to convert a tame first-half display, into a prolific second-half showing.
“I think the points were important as we weren’t at our finest fluency today. The shape was a frustrated one, which we played tonight. Their defensive players marked Armstrong and Dack tightly and gave them no room in the first period as their strikers dropped into our midfield and made it difficult for us to get out. With all due respect to the groundsman, the pitch is a very bobbly one this time of year, and we decided to go more direct in the second-half, get more bodies forward and ‘invert’ the triangle in midfield to get two number 10s, but ultimately, we got the job done.
“Personally, I was a bit frustrated that we weren’t at our optimum fluidity, yet it doesn’t really matter as I’m stood here having watched the lads pick up the three points. I’m delighted with the clean sheet and delighted for the defenders and the goalkeeper. We’ve now cleared one of many hurdles, but we can’t stop and admire as we have to keep pushing on from here.
“With total respect to Bradley (Dack), he’s been picking out passes and playing through sublime balls for us all year and we’ve come to expect that from him. I think that once he settled into his surroundings, and the squad, he’s shown what a talent he is, but it’s up-to him now to keep that going, in order for him to keep working hard and helping us through the next 13 games to see how many wins we can end up with. I think he has that talismanic effect which can lift a side, however I don’t want to stand here and build him, or any other player, up too much. I think Jack Payne came on and did amazingly well, and I’ll be surprised if he’s not asking for a place in the starting eleven soon. We’ve got a squad of good players, as shown by the likes of Danny Graham who’s scored around 9 in his last 10 appearances, which is pretty special and I think the new players who came in during the January window have settled in well.
“I feel that, during the first 20 minutes of a game at Ewood, teams come here with a game plan and stick to it which makes our lives difficult, but I think eventually, we wear them down, push them back and I think we’ve developed a style of play that allows us to attack our opponents’ weariness and I think Danny Graham lives off that. His experience allows him to pick him outstanding positions in the box and with the quality of the service he’s getting, he’s been able to showcase his finishing talent.
“We’ve recently had success by switching from a 4-2-3-1 into a 3-5-2, yet we switched the formations the other way today and had the same success. The variation and adaptability that we show to change formations is good as it allows us to capitalise against sides who get stuck in a specific way of playing against us. I was glad that (Marcus) Antonsson and Payne got on the pitch and were able to help towards the three points whilst they also got some game time. We’ve got some decent options in the squad, but we must keep pushing on, keep focused and keep winning matches.
“I don’t think we’re getting too excited about being top of the league. We can all see the table and see that Wigan have three games in hand, so we should get carried away as Wigan have the quality to win all their games in hand, as they’ve shown in the past. It was important to get the win tonight as we’ve suddenly got to deal with Rotherham who are steaming up behind us and I think that it was important to keep a comfortable gap of 7 points between us and them as it makes it harder for them to come into the automatic promotion picture. I’ve spoke to the players and they’re all focused on the task at hand and know what’s expected of them. You could feel the frustration of the supporters at half-time as they booed the lads off the pitch, yet the players – who were frustrated at half-time – went out there and got the job done. There’s an expectation at this football club to win every game and although we can’t play champagne football every game, we got the job done and the three points tonight.”
