Rovers wrapped up their promotion winning campaign, with a win over mid-table Oxford United, as the Blues put on a care-free performance which saw Mowbray’s men celebrate promotion with a 2-1 victory, in-front of 27,600 supporters.
With the game still having some effect on where the League 1 title would end up, prior to the game, Tony Mowbray reiterated that he was not interested on whether Rovers lifted the main prize or not, as his main goal of promotion, was already achieved. The gaffer also put pressure on his players, before the game, to put on a positive performance for the near-capacity crowd, who had followed his side’s exploits all season.
The final line-up of the season saw 5 changes to the side that fell to a narrow defeat away at Charlton Athletic last-week; David Raya, Ryan Nyambe, Derrick Williams, Elliott Bennett and Danny Graham all returned to the starting eleven in-place of Jayson Leutwiler, Paul Caddis, Paul Downing, Amari’i Bell and Jack Payne, respectively.
Prior to kick-off, Rovers handed out the customary Goal and Player of the Season Awards, which, unsurprisingly saw Bradley Dack the recipient of both after his stunning debut season saw the playmaker finish the campaign with 18 goals and 9 assists to his name. With his prolific record recognised by the fans, his goal, which claimed the Goal of the Season Award, was the team goal at Peterborough United, which saw Rovers counter-attack through Craig Conway, Dominic Samuel and Marcus Antonsson, before the move was finished off by Dack.
With all of the pre-match awards and acknowledgements complete, the game was started by Rovers who were looking to win the game in order to have the best possible chance of lifting the League 1 title.
Inside 60 seconds of the match, Oxford got their first opportunity on goal as their lively start seemed to have rocked Rovers. Cameron Brannigan picked up the ball on the edge of the area before trying his luck from range, but, despite his shot having power, it’s accuracy was lacking as David Raya saw it wide.
The visitors utilised their early momentum by creating a second chance, as on the 4th minute, former Wolves winger, James Henry had a header which whistled wide of the net. United had a corner which was floated in, and after spending some time in the air, the ball dropped to Henry who did well to make solid contact with the ball. Although Henry’s contact was good, he was unable to guide the ball towards goal as Raya was awarded his second goal-kick inside the first 5 minutes.
Rovers’ first chance of the game came 3 minutes after Henry’s header. Elliott Bennett’s cross was flicked behind by Adam Armstrong, who was looking for Danny Graham at the far-post, but unfortunately for the veteran striker, he wasn’t quick enough to make contact with the ball and turn it in to put Rovers ahead.
It didn’t take long for Rovers to take the lead however, as Darragh Lenihan headed his side in-front with his first goal for the club. A pinpoint cross into the box by Charlie Mulgrew, from a free-kick landed in the perfect position for Darragh Lenihan to make clean contact. The Irishman used the power from Mulgrew’s delivery to simply guide the ball home, before wheeling away to celebrate in-front of the near-capacity crowd.
On the 22nd minute, Rovers had a chance to go double their lead, as some good pressure by Richie Smallwood saw the midfielder dispossess an Oxford man and charge towards goal. The former Rotherham man did well to spot and pick out Armstrong, who’s subsequent attempt at goal was well saved by former Rover, Simon Eastwood in goal, as Rovers earnt a corner.
From the subsequent corner, Elliott Bennett’s corner was headed towards goal by Danny Graham, but Graham’s poor connection, saw the ball float towards the back-post rather than towards the net. With the ball in mid-air, the skipper, Charlie Mulgrew attempted to make any sort of contact on the ball, but he was unable to as the ball went behind for a goal-kick for the visitors.
On the 33rd minute, Oxford had their first opportunity since the 7th minute as Malachi Napa tried his luck with a first-time shot, but luckily for Rovers, David Raya had the shot covered as he kept his side’s lead intact.
6 minutes after Napa’s attempt, Oxford had another chance at levelling the scoring through Robert Dickie. The visiting defender headed towards goal from his side’s corner, but Raya was again equal to the attempt at goal.
As the Blues regained their dominance in the game after Raya’s save, the home side were soon given a penalty on the 41st minute after Simon Eastwood brought down Elliott Bennett inside the area, after the winger’s speed outfoxed the ‘keeper. With the former Rovers man booked, the onus of the penalty fell on the captain, Charlie Mulgrew, who was looking to increase his tally to 15 for the season. The skipper readied himself and took his run up which included a stutter, before cleanly striking the ball to his right-hand side. Unfortunately for Rovers, their former ‘keeper came back to haunt them, as Eastwood guessed the correct way and palmed the spot-kick behind for a corner.
Minutes after the penalty save, Elliott Bennett tried to put his side further into the lead with a strike from the edge of the area, but he was unable to keep his shot down as Oxford earnt a goal-kick.
Following the 1 minute of added time, the referee blew for half-time to end the first-half of a game which Rovers should have already wrapped up.
With both sides in their respective dressing rooms, receiving their words of wisdom from their managers. There was a period of celebration on the pitch for the Rovers under-23s squad who had won the Premier League 2, Division 2 and for the Rovers Ladies squad, who had also won the FA Women’s Premier League Cup, whilst retaining the Reserve Northern Division, whilst the Rovers u12 Girls also paraded their trophy, after finishing top of the Boys League.
As the various Rovers squads emerged and were congratulated by the fans, the first team squad re-appeared for the second-half with the knowledge that, if they maintained their lead and Wigan Athletic failed to grab a point against Doncaster Rovers, they would be crowned champions.
Oxford got the second period underway, but it was Rovers who had the first chance of the half, on the 53rd minute, through Bennett. The winger, moved in centrally before picking up the ball, turning and firing a powerful effort towards goal, which had Eastwood back-peddling, before pulling out a good save to deny his former teammate, as he was forced to concede a corner.
Between the stoppage for the corner, Oxford made their first change of the game as Ryan Ledson came on for John Mousinho.
The corner which came from Eastwood’s save resulted in a second corner for Rovers. The second corner was crossed in by Mulgrew and met by the head of Derrick Williams, who – as he has done for most of the season – failed to hit the target as he conceded a goal-kick to the visitors.
On the 65th minute, Rovers came forwards again, this time through Dominic Samuel, who was looking to end his goal drought of 19 league games. Sadly, for the former Reading forward, that run of 19 games looked to have been extended to 20, after Eastwood pull off a solid save to deny the forward.
It took less than a minute for Oxford to regroup and get back up the pitch as their next attack ended in the scores being levelled through James Henry. Josh Ruffels picked up the ball on the left-hand side and played in a low cross towards Henry, who cleverly managed to side-foot the ball past the despairing David Raya to put his side level.
Following the goal, Karl Robinson made his second substitution of the game as he brought on Ricardinho for Joe Rothwell.
The roar of the home crowd, who vociferously got behind Rovers, was deafening as the players kept on pushing to try and find the goal that would ensure they ended the season with a victory. They nearly found themselves ahead again through Adam Armstrong as he and Danny Graham combined well on the counter-attack. The latter did most of the running as he did well to look-up and pick out Armstrong who was unmarked in the area. Graham’s pass was lacklustre, but the on-loan striker did well to control, but his shot towards goal, simply trickled into the hands of Eastwood.
On the 75th minute, with Rovers pegged back, Tony Mowbray opted for a double change which saw Jack Payne and Amari’i Bell introduced in-place of Richie Smallwood and Derrick Williams.
Jack Payne’s introduction had an instant impact as the midfielder opened his account for Rovers, in his final game, against his former club. Corry Evans and Dominic Samuel combined well to slide Payne in, who latched onto the ball near the byline, before being shown inside by the defender and releasing a shot which flew past 3 Oxford players and Eastwood in goal.
Following the goal, Rovers made their final change as Marcus Antonsson was introduced in-place of Adam Armstrong, who left the field to a standing ovation.
Seconds after Armstrong departed, Rovers thought they had made it 3-1, but referee Carl Boyeson chalked off the goal after deeming that Danny Graham had handled the ball into the net.
Oxford soon made their final substation of the game as Jon Obika was withdrawn and replaced by Owen James.
As the referee added on 4 minutes of added time, Elliott Bennett was voted as Man of the Match by the club’s supporters on the new club app, but soon after, scenes began to turn sour when home supporters from the Blackburn End and Darwen End began to invade the field of play before the game was officially complete. It took nearly 10 minutes for order to be restored and the players to re-emerge in order to officially end the game. Once that was taken care of, and more pitch invaders were subdued, preparations began for Rovers to lift their runners-up trophy and to receive their medals, as Doncaster Rovers had failed to beat Wigan Athletic.
As the players who took part in this seasons’ triumph were introduced via roll call, there was a party atmosphere around Ewood Park as the trophy was lifted to a roar from all 4 corners of the ground, and despite Rovers not clinching the main prize, there was still no reason to be disappointed with the outcome of the season.
With the 2017-18 season now at an end and the challenge of League 1 (table below) overcome, Rovers will have to wait to see who they begin the 2018-19 Championship campaign against in August and whether they will be able to continue the positive momentum that they gained throughout this season.
