Following Rovers’ 2-1 win over Walsall at the Banks’s Stadium, Rovers manager Tony Mowbray reflected on a hard-fought victory with the clubs’ media team.
“I think in the first-half, we were, at times, very good. The performance in the first period was one of high energy, high quality and attacking impetus. We ended up going two in-front, we hit the bar and had other opportunities to extend our lead, but we were then kicked in the stomach on the stroke of half-time with their goal. I always preach about getting the first contact from set-plays and to be fair to David Raya, he got a hand on the ball, but the lads on the edge of the area didn’t react quick enough and the shot ended up in the back of our goal. It was a very frustrated dressing room at half-time because I felt, if we’d have gone in at 2-0 up, the momentum would have stayed with us and we could have gone onto finish the game comfortably. The second-half was never comfortable and we lacked a little bit of energy and drive, which could have been down to a few of the lads being sick at half-time, but all that matters is the three points which we earned today.
“In the second-half, we needed to show some grit, determination and desire to get over the line and I think we did that. The first-half was full of quality, whereas we had to dig deep in the second-half. Although we looked as if we were drained of energy in the second period, the defenders stood up well to the task and the team worked hard without the creativity of the first-half, but we worked hard to hold on, but I must credit Walsall for making us work hard in the second-half.
“I’m delighted for Danny (Graham). I’m asking him to work really hard for the team and he’s doing that and when he generally gets into the position to finish chances, he does so with high quality. The balance of the team that we’ve got at the moment is good, as it’s great for me to know that I can bring on some speed, physicality or quality finishing off the bench, whenever we should need it. We need to keep going. We’ve got 12 games to tick off and all the teams around us won again today, so we just have to keep the three points coming.
“I think the supporters were the catalyst for our victory. Yes, Danny got the two goals, but I think the fact that they kept encouraging the players from start to finish, they sang all game and they came here for a bit of a party. It would have been nice to have entertained them a bit more in the second-half as we were aiming toward the goal where they were sat, but we got over the line together in the end and we’re standing here with three points in the bag and our eyes on the next game.”
