Rovers’ positive start to the season was finally rewarded with the illusive league victory, after their dominant performance away at Hull City’s KCOM Stadium, saw them head back down the M62 with all 3 points.
During the build-up to the game, Tony Mowbray admitted that his strong midweek selection against Carlisle United in the Carabao Cup, was a fitness builder for his players, as he expected them to go out against Hull City, ‘impose their style of play’ and show them what Blackburn Rovers were capable of.
The side that Mowbray had given this task to, saw 1 change to the line-up that was put out in Rovers’ last league game against Millwall, as Danny Graham – who had been suffering from a sore knee midweek – was replaced by Adam Armstrong, with the veteran forward only fit for the bench. There was one change to the bench from the previous Saturday, as the fit again Dominic Samuel returned to take Joe Nuttall’s place.
With the away support in their stand, belting out ‘Tony Mowbray’s Blue and White Army’, as loud as possible, the pre-match formalities occurred before Rovers got the game underway.
Rovers started the game quicker of the sides, and that was shown inside the 7th minute, when both Palmer and Dack had successive chances to open the scoring for Rovers. From a quick free-kick, which saw Armstrong fouled, Rovers looked to move forward through some good interplay in the midfield. Bennett, on the left wing, received the ball from Palmer, before returning the ball, which allowed the Chelsea loanee to burst into the box and have a shot at goal, which was only parried by David Marshall. That parry saw the ball headed up into the air by Jordy de Wijs, before it was headed towards goal by Bradley Dack, whose header landed on the roof of the net, rather than in the top corner.
A minute after Dack’s header went over, Adam Armstrong showed the home side’s defence what his blistering pace was all about, as he was played through by Dack. Armstrong got the better of Angus MacDonald as Marshall came out to meet the forward. As the forward tried to round Marshall, the ball bounced off the ‘keeper’s left foot and hit Armstrong, which caused the forward to stumble in the box, as vociferous appeals for a penalty were heard from the away support. David Coote, the match official, waved away the away side’s appeals as the ball trickled out for a Hull goal-kick.
On the 10th minute, Armstrong and Marshall once again faced off, as the forward twisted and turned away from Hull challenges, before trying his luck from just inside the area. Marshall, however, was once again able to deny the former Newcastle man, as he held onto the curling effort at goal.
2 minutes after Armstrong’s attempt, Hull made their way towards the Rovers box, and nearly found themselves through on goal, but for the well positioned Corry Evans, whose quick thinking and experience saw him placed between the 2 Rovers centre-halves, as his sliding interception saved Rovers from facing a Fraizer Campbell shot.
With Hull denied the chance to even have a shot at Rovers’ goal, the Blues then recycled possession and found themselves inside the Hull box on the 14th minute, with Marshall being the busier of the 2 shot-stoppers on show. Richie Smallwood’s interception saw Evans pick up the ball and find Dack, who turned and laid the ball off to Kasey Palmer, who had cut inside from the right. The midfielder did well to confuse Stephen Kingsley with a few stepovers, before returning the ball to Dack, who saw his run take him to the edge of the Hull penalty area. After receiving the ball, Dack’s nimble footwork saw him leave 2 defenders for dead, before his forceful effort on goal was well blocked by the thigh of the onrushing Marshall. The danger didn’t stop there however, as due to Hull failing to clear, Smallwood was able to hook the ball back into the area, which saw Armstrong try a blind header towards goal, which Marshall was able to easily hold onto.
With Rovers the dominant side inside the opening 25 minutes, there was an unfortunate break in play on the 27th minute, when Kasey Palmer and Stephen Kingsley clashed heads, fighting for an airborne ball. Following a goal-kick by David Marshall, both Kingsley and Palmer went up to challenge, but both missed the ball as they clashed heads. Sadly, for the home side, Kingsley came off worse, as his landing saw his pain increase. Thankfully however, it has since been reported by Hull City, that Kingsley has suffered no serious damage. Following a lengthy period of treatment for both players, which subsequently saw Palmer continue, and Kingsley replaced by Jon Toral, play resumed.
On the 33rd minute, Rovers came mightily close to taking the lead through an unlikely source; Darragh Lenihan. The centre-back was forward for a corner and stayed in and around the penalty area for the second cross, after the original corner was only partially cleared. Elliott Bennett received the ball on the edge of the area, and clipped a cross in towards the back post where the unmarked Lenihan was able to run onto it and side-foot the ball towards goal, but unfortunately for the centre-back, his shot flew wide of the mark.
Following Lenihan’s miss, Hull made a rare foray forwards, through newly appointed captain, Markus Henriksen. After Ryan Nyambe was dispossessed in the Hull half, the Tigers pounced on the counter as some lovely interplay by Evandro and Henriksen, set the Norwegian away, as he ran at goal, before releasing a tame, outside of the box effort, which dragged past Raya’s right-hand post.
With Rovers still in the ascendency as half-time loomed, many would have put bets on Bradley Dack impacting the game through a goal in some shape or form, whether that be assisting a teammate, or scoring it himself. Thankfully for the 1250-odd Rovers fans behind David Raya’s goal, the latter happened on the 43rd minute, as some brilliant retaining of possession and patient build-up, led to Dack opening up the scoring in the game. A throw-in by Amari’i Bell on the left-hand side, which was given to Corry Evans, saw Rovers begin their build-up for the goal. The Northern Irishman did well to shake off a challenge, before playing it backwards to Lenihan, who passed to Smallwood. The ‘King of Ewood’ – as the popular chant goes – did well to bypass Jackson Irvine with his through ball, in order to find Armstrong, who had come deep to receive a touch of the ball. Armstrong wasted no time in turning and driving towards goal, before picking out Elliott Bennett ahead of him, who had moved into a good crossing position. Once he had received the ball, Bennett put in an inviting low cross towards the 6-yard box, which allowed Bradley Dack to run free of his marker and prod the ball home to send the away support wild.
As the game restarted, after the euphoria of the goal, referee David Coote added on 3 minutes to the end of the first-half, all of which undoubtedly came due to Kingsley’s injury.
On the stroke of half-time, Hull had one final chance before the end of the half, to try and change each manager’s team talk, by drawing level. A free-kick from the right-hand side from Jon Toral, saw the ball poorly cleared, as a first-time cross from Angus MacDonald saw Rovers scrambling to try and clear. Fraizer Campbell was the man who connected with the returned ball, but his header didn’t trouble David Raya, as Rovers earnt a goal-kick.
From the subsequent goal-kick, the half-time whistle was blown, which saw Rovers go into the break with the lead.
With the half-time team talks ongoing, the Rovers camp would have been the happier of the 2 sides inside the KCOM stadium, as their first-half performance was near-perfect and would have certainly pleased Tony Mowbray, who, had called on them pre-match, to take the game to the home side, in order to try and get the first 3 points of the season, on the board.
The home side, however, would have been frustrated at their lack of hold on the game, as it was slowly slipping away from them, with each passing moment. Nigel Adkins’ side, bar a few half-chances which resorted to Rovers goal-kicks, barely showed any ball retention, or attacking nous, which would have put them into the lead during the first-half and as a result, they found themselves trailing at the break and looking as if the game had spiralled beyond them.
As both sides returned for the second-half with unchanged line-ups to the ones that went in for the break, it was the home side who restarted the half with the kick-off.
It didn’t take long for Rovers to show their tenacious side as both Evans and Lenihan entered the referee’s book during the opening 5 minutes of the second period.
On the 54th minute, Jackson Irvine – who was the target of a lot of jeers by the away support – had his side’s first chance of the half, as Hull had a rare chance at goal. The Australian, who was part of the Socceroo’s World Cup squad in Russia, got on the end of Toral’s through ball and created the angle and space for a shot, which David Raya was equal to.
On the hour mark, a rash challenge on Bradley Dack saw the goalscorer replaced by Danny Graham. Despite trying to continue, Dack’s knee injury, was too much for him to continue, as he hobbled off and was replaced by the Rovers number 10, with the whole away end holding it’s breath.
Before Graham’s introduction and whilst Dack was on the floor, Ryan Nyambe received a yellow card for a foul inside the Rovers half, which saw 2 of the 4 defenders in Rovers’ backline on bookings, as the right-back followed Lenihan into the book.
As Graham settled into the game, Rovers nearly went 2-0 up, following some superb play by Nyambe whose cross nearly inadvertently set up Armstrong. Nyambe used his pace well to prevent the ball from going out for a goal-kick, before whipping in a deep cross which eventually fell to Armstrong on the volley, but his connection was poor as the shot was sliced and then cleared.
The Rovers pressure continued into the 65th minute, as Bell and Palmer combined to allow the latter an attempt on goal. After a Hull clearance was recycled, Rovers had the ball out on the wing with Bell, who dribbled inside to the top of the box. He was then pickpocketed by Palmer, who tried to find the far corner, however Marshall did well to get down and deny Palmer a second goal in Rovers colours.
That shot by Palmer proved to be his last action of the game, as minutes later, he was withdrawn as Lewis Travis was brought on as Rovers’ second substitute, with Palmer making way.
Once play resumed, with just under 20 minutes to go, Evandro was shown a yellow card for a foul on Corry Evans.
As the clock hit 71 minutes, Rovers missed a golden chance to put the game to bed as Elliott Bennett failed to convert from around 6-yards. Adam Armstrong used his pace to blitz away from Jarrod Bowen and create a shooting opportunity in the box, before having a shot saved by David Marshall. Marshall’s save saw the ball diverted towards the penalty spot, where his defenders failed to clear. Elliott Bennett, who was trying to keep up with Armstrong’s run, saw the ball fall to him with the net gaping, but somehow managed to fire wide as the away crowd began to celebrate, whilst the home crowd breathed a sigh of relief.
With Rovers still licking their wounds after Bennett’s gilt-edged chance, both sides made changes in order to freshen up their personnel ahead of the final 10 minutes. Nouha Dicko and David Milinković were introduced for Fraizer Campbell and Jarrod Bowen, respectively, whilst Rovers responded to that by giving Joe Rothwell some game time, as he was brought on for Adam Armstrong, who had run his socks off.
As the Blues’ domination continued, the 80th minute saw Danny Graham miss, what can be called a sitter, by his standards. Corry Evans crossed in a ball which was headed back across goal by Darragh Lenihan, who had just been up for a free-kick. Lenihan’s header across goal connected with the head of Graham, who only had to guide the ball towards either side of Marshall to secure the points for Rovers. Unbelievably however, Graham’s header fell to the one place it shouldn’t have, which was Marshall’s arms, as the Scot once again parried the ball away, before it was eventually cleared.
4 minutes later, Graham tried to make up for his miss, by curling in an effort from the top of the box. A Rovers throw-in saw the Blues lose, then subsequently regain possession before Richie Smallwood crossed the ball in first time. His cross met its intended target, in Danny Graham, who fought off 2 defenders and brought the ball down before turning and shooting at goal. Sadly, however, Graham’s angles were off, as the ball fizzed over the bar.
All of Rovers’ pressure and domination looked to have been for nothing by the 87th minute, had it not been for the cat-like reflexes of David Raya, who kept his side in the lead, by denying substitute Nouha Dicko from close-range. Some good interplay between the Hull players saw them muster a counter-attack which had Rovers shaking. A switch by David Milinković, saw Todd Kane cross in a high, first-time ball, aimed at the arriving Dicko. The ball reached its target as the former Wolves man did well to bring the ball down on his chest and try his luck at goal, as his shot brought out a good save from Raya, which awarded Hull a corner.
From the corner, Hull were inches away from levelling the scoreline, had Raya not used his reflexes once again, this time, to deny Jordy de Wijs from point-blank range. Evandro’s corner saw nobody in Blue and White attack it, as de Wijs rose highest to connect with the ball and guide it towards goal. Thankfully for the travelling support, who were holding their breath in the opposite corner of the ground, Raya stood firm to deny the Dutch defender a leveller, as Rovers eventually cleared.
Rovers’ final attack of the game saw Corry Evans hit a sweet volley that Marshall saved. With Rovers trying their best to keep the ball in the Hull half, a blocked shot fell nicely for Evans to hit first-time and despite his knack for the sporadic long-range volley – such as the one in the 4-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers in 2013 – he was unable to repeat the feat, as Marshall had the ball covered all the way.
The final act of the game saw Ryan Nyambe come to the away side’s rescue, as he blocked Jackson Irvine’s close-range attempt, which was met by cheers from the Rovers support.
With 6 minutes of added time being added by David Coote, Rovers spent them all at the corner flag in the Hull half, before the referee put the home side out of their misery by calling an end to a game in which they had been run ragged.
In retrospect, Rovers did what was asked of them by Tony Mowbray. They came to the KCOM, imposed their style of play on Hull, dominated and left with the 3 points their execution deserved. Although the last 5 minutes before injury time were incredibly nervy, the players showed great resilience and willpower to throw their bodies on the line and deny Hull the equaliser that would have destroyed 90 minutes of hard work. Looking at the game in more detail, despite Rovers’ dominance, there was a spell, 10 minutes after half-time, just prior to Dack’s injury and the introduction of Danny Graham, where Hull looked on top and were just lacking the goal threat. This, although changed quickly once Graham was brought on, may be something which Mowbray would want to address, as although it’s understandable that a team cannot dominate for the whole 90 minutes, plus stoppages, unless there’s a real gulf in class, there were times where Hull’s ability to move the ball around at speed – as shown by the Dicko chance at the end of the game – could have really cost Rovers, and had the game been played on another day, this report could well have been titled, ‘Hull City 1-1 Blackburn Rovers.’
Despite that, however, Rovers showed their class, their strength in depth and their ability to compete in this division, as they came to a side – albeit on a downwards spiral – who were recently in the Premier League and dominated for 80 minutes, which shows incredible signs of progression, not just from last year’s FA Cup tie against the Tigers, but from the previous Championship campaign.
This victory sees Rovers sit in 11th in the table on 5 points, with a goal difference of +1, following their 2 draws earlier on in the month. Although it is still early days, the Blues are only 2 points off the playoffs, a position which the fans will hoping the team will continue to occupy, as the season progresses.
In terms of upcoming fixtures, next week sees Rovers deal with back-to-back home league games, as they welcome Reading, (Wednesday, 22nd August, 7:45pm KO) and Brentford, (Saturday, 25th August, 3pm KO) to Ewood Park, before turning their attentions back to the Carabao Cup, as Lincoln City make the trip to Lancashire on Tuesday 28th August.
