During the aftermath of Rovers’ dominant display in their 2-0 home win over Bradford City, Tony Mowbray reflected on the victory, from a game which could have seen Rovers easily finish the game with 3 or 4 goals, had they been more prolific.
“I’ve got no fears about the depth and the strength of the squad as everybody in this squad has a host of talent, which makes it difficult for me to pick a starting 11 as they’re all chomping at the bit to get into the side and make an impact. Although I have to leave players out, there’s normally a logic behind it and those who do not get picked, understand that. In relation to tonight, I chose (Marcus) Antonsson over (Craig) Conway or (Jack) Payne out on the left because, with all due respect to Craig and Jack, they’re not 6’3 and I felt Marcus’ height was needed at set-pieces. I’ve spoken in mid-week about the quality of the human beings in this squad and although they may not like that they’ve been left out, they’ll always rally behind and support those who are starting, which shows tremendous team spirit.
“With us not taking the chances that were on offer in the first-half, you always fear of it being one of those game where you dominate, and then go 1-0 down due to a poorly defended set-piece or a counter-attack. Thankfully that wasn’t the case tonight and we eventually were able to break them down, and standing here with a 2-0 victory seems right as I don’t believe they posed a great threat, which also showed how solidly we were defensively. I’m pleased for the back four, and especially Derrick Williams, who’s had to fill in at centre-back during Charlie’s (Mulgrew) absence. This was just another game which we had to tick off and thankfully we came out on top in, what was, a tough game, where we showed no complacency.
“It was vital that we got the second, which Conway did, as at any level of football, 1-0 is not a safe scoreline as the opposition can always pressure you and try and get back into the game. I thought we did well in order to deal with their threat at set-pieces and keep them away from our goal, in general tonight. Craig is an example of a great human being, who works hard day in, day out, but naturally gets frustrated when he’s not picked to start games. Craig is a great guy, who understands the logic behind my selection as tonight, we picked a team that aimed to break down Bradford’s back 3 and eventually back 4, as Simon (Grayson) changed his backline to deal with our attacking threat. Conway has come on and made a difference tonight, like he has done a couple of times this season, like he did against Portsmouth, where he got the third here, but saying that, I would never question Craig’s desire to help the team win games.
“You have to trust the players in your squad. They’ve done extremely well tonight to beat a tough Bradford side, without the likes of Mulgrew and Danny Graham. I do become repetitive in training when I tell them that they need to work hard and they have to do the extra training and running if they weren’t selected as, no manager has the time for a player who’s moaning that he hasn’t played for weeks and hasn’t put the effort in, in training to prove that.
“We travel down to face MK Dons on Monday, who although are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the league, are unbeaten in their last 4 games, which includes 3 victories. Their confidence will be high, but they’ll also ask questions of us as they have good players who are good in possession of the football, but that game is just the next test for us. I keep saying to the lads that it’s about what we do on the night, don’t worry about what colour kits they’re wearing or the name on the back, because we’re Blackburn Rovers and we’re going down there to play positive, attacking football to try and come away with 3 points.”
The manager concluded his interview by touching upon his central defenders, Darragh Lenihan, who was taken off injured in the first-half and Charlie Mulgrew, whose commitments with Scotland forced him out of this tie due to fatigue.
“Darragh is a big loss to the side, as ever since he’s returned, he’s been a man mountain, he’s looked composed, powerful, confident and fast. I think he’s just got bruises in the lower back after taking a knee to the back, so I don’t think he’ll be out for long, yet these types of injuries could swell and take some time to settle. Charlie was never going to play today as he didn’t land at Edinburgh airport until this morning at around 3am and he obviously wasn’t able to train with us.”
