After nearly 3 weeks of game inactivity, Rovers returned to action with a dominant 2-0 win over playoff hopefuls, Bradford City, courtesy of goals from Bradley Dack and Craig Conway at Ewood Park, in-front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Prior to the game, Tony Mowbray challenged his players to continue the winning form that they showed in their 3-0 win over Blackpool, prior to the international break, in order to keep the pressure up on Wigan Athletic and Shrewsbury Town, and his challenge was duly accepted by his players, as they, again, emerged victorious.
The side that Mowbray picked to start this game saw 4 changes to the side that despatched Blackpool, 19 days ago. Amari’i Bell, Corry Evans, Marcus Antonsson and Dominic Samuel all came in to replace Charlie Mulgrew, Jack Payne, Danny Graham and Ryan Nyambe, with the latter two being ruled out with back pain and a hamstring injury, respectively. With the 4 changes being made, the Rovers squad lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Raya in goal, Bennett and Bell as fullbacks, with Williams and Lenihan between them. The midfield saw Evans and Smallwood in holding roles, whilst Armstrong, Dack and Antonsson supported the lone striker, who was Dominic Samuel. The Rovers bench also included Leutwiler, Caddis, Downing, Whittingham, Payne, Conway and Nuttall.
The game started lively and with Rovers on the front foot possession-wise, as inside the first 3 minutes, they nearly managed to go a goal ahead, with the first shot of the game. Adam Armstrong picked up the ball on the left-hand side and crossed in a ball, which was only cleared as far as Elliott Bennett, who struck an effort low and hard towards goal, however with the effort deflecting towards the net, it was easily clearable by the visiting defence.
2 minutes after Bennett’s attempt, the home crowd were calling for the red card to emerge for Nathaniel Knight-Percival’s last-ditch tackle on Dominic Samuel, after the forward latched onto the end of David Raya’s punt forwards and found himself through on goal. With the Rovers contingency calling for Knight-Percival to head for an early bath, referee Chris Sarginson communicated with his assistant, who had a better view of the incident, before producing a yellow card for the defender’s troubles.
With 15 minutes gone on the clock, Rovers’ continued pressure and possession saw them produce another shot on target which, this time, tested Colin Doyle between the Bradford posts. Corry Evans was the man who latched onto the end of the loose ball, as he drove an effort towards goal, which the former Birmingham City keeper did well to get down and save.
A couple of minutes after Evans’ attempt, Rovers had a free-kick which was lofted into the box by Richie Smallwood and met by the head of Marcus Antonsson, who, from around 6-yards out, should have really nodded the Blues into the lead, as his effort flew wide of the upright.
With 22 minutes being played, Rovers somehow managed to hit the woodwork twice in the space of seconds. Dack’s deep corner was headed towards goal by Williams, which forced a clearance by Bradford which only went as far as Marcus Antonsson, who took a touch, lined up a shot which hit the post. The Swede was then able to loft the rebound back into the box, where it was again cleared, only as far as the corner taker, Dack. The 24-year old lofted another ball into the box, which deflected off former Rover, Matthew Kilgallon, ricocheted off the crossbar and went out for a throw-in.
After 30 minutes were played, Rovers were forced into making a defensive change which saw Paul Downing come on for Darragh Lenihan, who had awkwardly landed on his back after going up for a header.
On the 43rd minute, Rovers countered through Armstrong and Samuel, as the two combined well as the former teed up the latter for an effort on goal. Samuel, then shimmied past one defender before striking at goal, but unluckily for him, Colin Doyle had the tight angle covered.
With 2 minutes being added on, onto the end of the first-half due to Lenihan’s injury, both sets of supporters weren’t really being given a performance that was value for the money they had spent, as both sides entered the break goalless, despite Rovers having all of the chances.
As half-time ensued, Tony Mowbray would have been wondering how his side were not a goal ahead, especially after seeing his players hit the woodwork twice. Contrastingly, however, Simon Grayson would have been livid with his sides’ performance in the first 45 minutes.
With the second-half underway, it took only 4 minutes for Rovers to continue the dominance that they had shown in the first-half. Dack’s corner was crossed into Armstrong, who’s effort skewed wide of the net and was then cleared by the visiting defence.
On the 55th minute, Rovers had their second chance of the half as Elliott Bennett crossed a ball into Dominic Samuel, who was unable to keep his balance, as his headed effort rolled wide of Doyle’s goal.
As the referee’s watch struck one hour of football, Amari’i Bell and Armstrong combined well to fashion an opening for Antonsson, as the full-back and striker-turned-winger played some intricate passing in order to play Rovers’ number 20 through, but the on-loan Leeds man’s effort was poked wide.
On the 64th minute, both sides made changes which would try and give them the opening they needed to push on and win the game. Rovers introduced Jack Payne for Dominic Samuel, which saw Armstrong move centrally, whereas Bradford made a double change as Dominic Poleon and Alex Gilliead were withdrawn and replaced by Omari Patrick and Shay McCartan, respectively.
Jack Payne’s impact, following his introduction, was instant, as minutes after coming on, he provided a luscious through ball into Armstrong’s path, which provided the forward with another chance at goal. As the on-loan forward was played through on goal, his pace was enough to help him get away from the defence, but his first-time effort dragged across the face of goal and went out for a goal-kick.
On the 69th minute, Rovers were finally able to break the deadlock in the game as Bradley Dack calmly finished to put Rovers into the lead and claim his 16th goal of the season on his 200th career appearance. The midfield maestro passed to Payne before making a charging run behind the Bradford defence. In the meanwhile, Payne had found Corry Evans who then played a weighted pass into the path of Dack, who left the defence in his wake as he bared down on goal and finished with a right-footed effort on goal, to put Rovers in-front and back atop of the League One summit.
With 72 minutes played, Simon Grayson opted for his third and final substitution as Timothy Dieng replaced Callum Guy. In response, 7 minutes later, Mowbray also made his final change as Craig Conway came on for Marcus Antonsson.
Mowbray’s choice of throwing on Craig Conway proved to be a good one, as 75 seconds after coming on, the Scotsman scored with his second touch of the ball, as he put the game beyond the Bantams’ reach. Dack, Payne and Armstrong showed off their fine, seemingly telepathic understanding with some delicate passes between them, as Dack laid the ball off for Armstrong, who saw his shot deflected by Kilgallon, into the feet of Conway who took one touch to steady himself, before firing home with his second, as Rovers sealed the victory.
Unfortunately for the travelling fans, they had to wait until the 84th minute before seeing their team produce a shot of any sorts. This shot came courtesy of the substitute Omari Patrick, who couldn’t start a late Bantams comeback, as his effort flew wide.
4 minutes later, Patrick had the visitors’ second attempt as he rose to meet a cross, but was unable to keep it on target, as it flew onto the bar.
With 4 minutes being added onto the end of the game, and Bradley Dack being named Sky Bet’s and the club sponsor’s Man of the Match, to no shock, Rovers’ return to winning way after nearly 3 weeks out of action, was almost a formality, as Mr. Sarginson ended, what was a hot and cold game.
With the three points wrapped up and in the bag, Rovers fans can now look at the table with some relief, as they knew before this game, that a win would have taken them back to the top of the league on points. Despite this game being won however, the game itself was poor from the perspective of both Rovers and Bradford as the hosts should have finished more of the chances that they created, whereas the visitors struggled with the basis of creating the chances they needed, let alone finishing.
As the season begins to dwindle down to its conclusion, Rovers still have 8 games to play before being sure of their fate for next season and with Wigan and Shrewsbury going nowhere, anytime soon, the climax to the season promises to be one of tension, excitement and heartbreak as the three frontrunners fight for two automatic promotion spots.
Speaking of the league, Rovers, as mentioned, have reasserted themselves as the leaders of the pack, as after 38 games, they have 79 points and a +37-goal difference. Closely behind are the surprise package of Shrewsbury Town, who sit on 78 points and a goal difference of +23, whereas Wigan Athletic, who find themselves in 3rd are on 77 points with a +45-goal difference, but still grasp onto having two games in hand, which – if they pick up 6 points from – could completely change the complexion of the top 3.
In terms of upcoming games, Rovers’ next outing comes on Monday 2nd April, where they are expected to be back by around 1,800+ supporters as they travel down to Milton Keynes to face MK Dons. After coming through that, the Blues are back at Ewood, where they play hosts to Southend United on the 7th as they try to exact revenge over their opening day defeat to the Shrimpers.
