After opening his account for the season and the division, by scoring Rovers’ 2nd goal against Ipswich Town in Saturday’s 2-2 draw, Bradley Dack spoke to the club’s media team, after the game, to sum up his thoughts on a tough, but ultimately heart-breaking, opening day clash in the Suffolk sun.
“It was a bad start for us, to concede inside the opening 5 minutes, but we did really well to get back in the game, then take the lead. We probably have to do better at the end in order to hold out for the victory, which is something we’ll, no doubt, be working on in training. It’s been a bittersweet day for me, personally, as it’s nice to get off the mark in the Championship, but the overall result is what matters, and we’re disappointed not to be walking away from here with all 3 points.
“I think we did enough to see the game out. If you look at the second-half, the chances were few and far between. I think we had a couple of opportunities and they had a chance which David (Raya) did well to stop, then obviously, their goal has come from a cross that we’ve already looked at in the dressing room, and we’ll be determined not to let it happen again.
“It’s a tough blow to take, but it’s swings and roundabouts, that’s football. Hopefully we can get the rub of the green later on in the campaign, which will level things out. Saying that, there were a lot of positives to the game, as we’ve started better than we did last year(!) But seriously, we’ve come away from home in the Championship and got a point, meaning if we can get all 3 points at home against Millwall next week, our start wouldn’t have been too bad. In the dressing room, the gaffer praised many aspects of our play, such as our pressing and our work-rate, which he said, were brilliant, but he also made note that we should have had a bit more quality in our play going forwards, which is something we intend to improve upon as a group.
“Everyone knows that we’ve got a lot of character in this team, which we showed last year. We knew, after we went behind, that we have goals in this team, so we just kept our game-plan the same and tried to get back into the tie, which we did, through Danny (Graham). There’s a lot of talent in this team, as well as competition for places, as you can see by the players on the bench, so our goal now is to keep on attacking teams the way we do, but also, sure up the defensive side of our game in order to prevent a similar scenario to today, happening again.
“I’ve waited a long time to score in the Championship! It was a brilliant feeling and I wish it was the goal that won us the game, but it wasn’t meant to be. It’s a good personal start for me, so hopefully I can build on it over the course of the season. A lot of the boys talked to me about the Championship before the game, saying it was a league of high intensity which was played at around 100mph, but I thought we did well. Ipswich are a big, strong, physical side who press well from the front, so hopefully the tempo decreases as we continue the season.”
With Brad off the mark for the season, the playmaker was asked whether he was targeting similar goal and assist tallies to last season, despite moving up into a division renowned for its physical nature, resilient defences and sheer unpredictability.
“I don’t see why I can’t achieve a similar target this season, to what I achieved in 2017-18. My goal between now and the end of the season, is to try and better what I achieved in League 1, in order to improve my standards and my ability as a footballer, whilst helping the club simultaneously move forwards. If we manage to get the win against Millwall next week, our point today won’t look as bad, so hopefully we can put in a winning performance that will make the Ewood Park crowd, proud.”
