After a magnificent comeback by Rovers, which saw them go from 1-0 down to 3-1 up during the second-half, to snatch all 3 points away from Peterborough United, Tony Mowbray spoke with the clubs’ media team regarding the game and the turnaround which saw his side go within touching distance of the Championship.
“This team are really tough mentally, they have a strong togetherness and camaraderie which allows them to never lay down in-front of an opposition and accept defeat, no matter how big they are. Today’s first-half was a tough 45 minutes against a good, strong side who had a lot of pace up-top and tonight, they asked questions in behind our midfield. I didn’t want to change things tactically because I believed that our strikers would score more than their strikers and that led to the first period become a real end-to-end contest, but thankfully, in the second-half we managed to smother their opportunities and shift into another gear which saw us come away with the 3 points.
“The supporters, it must be mentioned, were fantastic tonight and with their help and encouragement, the lads were able to find a way to remain resilient and get the goals that allowed us to celebrate victory, come full-time. As a club, we’ve produced a great result, but a result that was expected of us before the game. This has happened because the players care about each other, they work hard for each other, they don’t accept defeat and they made the all-important connection with the fans during the second-half and that was nice to see. The dressing room is a good place to be in at the moment, but we need to rest well and eat and drink properly before Tuesday’s trip to Doncaster Rovers.
“Bradley’s come out and done what he does for us once again, yet I’d have to say that he’s been poor in the last 2 games, against Gillingham and Bristol Rovers. I’ve had a chat with him about his performance levels and how he has to look after himself, but overall, he’s a good kid. Why don’t I get overly excited or frustrated when he has a bad game, is because he loves football, he wants to help his club win matches which is what he did today. Danny Graham, is a bit of a dilemma for me, because I see him after an hour and he looks knackered, and yet, particularly at home, you feel as if he’s going to score a goal, or create something, whether that being an assist or an opportunity to make an assist through his physicality. I was tempted to take him off for Dominic (Samuel), but I kept him on and the decision paid dividends in the end.
“I have a consistency of selection due to the fact that the players can make a difference in games. I have some fantastic footballers who are kicking their heels and quite agitated that they aren’t getting games, yet, as a manager in these pressure situations, you have to rely on the experience of your Grahams’, your Mulgrews’, your Evans’, your Bennetts’, your Williams’ to rely on in order to get you over the line.
“It was fantastic to get the third goal, because with a 1 goal advantage, you’re always thinking that you could potentially draw level and drop points. The lads did ever so well to regain possession and score the third which allowed us to relax and let the relief out. The result is a fantastic one, but we have to remain focused, put the points in the bag and more onto Tuesday.”
The manager summed up his interview by talking about and praising the Rovers fans for the atmosphere they created inside Ewood Park, in addition to the continuous support they gave the team once they re-emerged from the break.
“The atmosphere inside the ground tonight was probably the best I’ve seen at home this season. I think it’s on-par with the atmosphere that was created last season when we were digging in and trying to get results, but it just shows me what Ewood Park can be like. I was telling someone before, can you imagine if we got over 20,000-odd people in the ground in order to listen to the noise they would generate when the side are on the front-foot and hopefully we can look forward to years in the future where that can become a reality.
“I don’t believe today’s result was overly decisive. At this point, I’m not guaranteeing anything because we’ve still got 3 games left to play. I just want to focus on Tuesday’s match, rather than worrying about what Shrewsbury or Wigan are doing. Shrewsbury still have 12 points available to them, which is more than enough to catch us, if we slip up. With them being on 82, the maximum they can achieve is 94 and with us being on 90, we just need 4 points as a result of our advantageous goal-difference. But regardless of that, we need to focus on our own results to make sure that we don’t need to worry about Shrewsbury causing us problems. I want to finish with as many wins as possible and it would be great for this club to win the league, yet Wigan and Shrewsbury are both fighting to achieve the same goal, but with the spirit in our dressing room, there’s no reason to think why we can’t win all 3 of our remaining games.”
