Rovers’ start to life back in the Championship left a sour taste in the mouth of the supporters who made the long trip down, as Mowbray’s men fell to a late sickening draw due a 91st minute equaliser, against Ipswich Town.
Prior to kick-off, manager Tony Mowbray had called on his players to keep the momentum of last season alive, by transforming the hard-work and energy that they had shown last season, and during pre-season, into the new campaign.
The first team selection of the new season, who ran out onto the Portman Road turf in the newly supplied yellow Umbro away kit, saw Tony Mowbray keep faith with those who had achieved the successes of last season, despite the additions of Joe Rothwell, Kasey Palmer and Jacob Davenport, the latter of whom did not travel due to injury.
With Mowbray keeping faith in his 4-2-3-1, this is how the Blues lined-up; David Raya kept his place between the sticks, whilst a back 4, consistent of Ryan Nyambe, Captain Charlie Mulgrew, Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams stood in-front of the Spaniard. The centre of the park was occupied by Northern Irishman Corry Evans and his partner-in-crime, the ‘King of Ewood’, Richie Smallwood, whilst Dominic Samuel and Elliott Bennett took up their respective positions on the left and right of attacking midfielder, Bradley Dack. That left Danny Graham to spearhead the side, as the lone striker.
As the season kicked off for both sides, Rovers were hoping to use their momentum from last season, to try and make a statement on the opening day, that would allow them to push on and secure themselves at least mid-table spot come the end of the season. Ipswich, on the other hand, were looking to see whether new manager Paul Hurst could make the step up from League 1, and into the Championship.
The game began with various spells of possession from both sides, whilst both sets of fans serenaded their teams with various songs of support, however, it didn’t take long for the Rovers voices to dissipate into a fury of Ipswich cheers as the home side took the lead on the 5th minute.
After some solid retention of possession by the home side, they were able to get the ball out wide towards Freddie Sears, who wasted no time in cutting inside onto his stronger right-foot and bypassing a lacklustre challenge by Dominic Samuel, before whipping in a delicious ball towards the far-post. Said cross went over the heads of both Rovers’ centre-backs and Derrick Williams, before it was diverted into the top right-hand corner of Raya’s goal by debutant Gwion Edwards’ head, (who was a supposed target for Rovers during the summer), as Portman Road erupted for the first time this season.
As the 1070 Rovers fans began to have terrifying flashbacks of 2 seasons ago where their season began with a 4-1 trouncing by the hosts’ neighbours, Norwich City, the game descended into a scramble for possession, as neither side managed to create a solid opportunity at goal worth discussing.
That underwhelming passage of play continued until the 20th minute, when Rovers managed to get themselves level, courtesy of last season’s 17-goal forward, Danny Graham. Rovers earnt a free-kick mid-way into the Ipswich half, which was taken by Richie Smallwood. The midfielder played in a deep ball, towards the back post, which was met by the head of Darragh Lenihan, whose header went across the face of goal and was flicked on by Derrick Williams, whose effort was denied by Bialkowski, before Danny Graham superbly managed to hook William’s rebound into the back of Bialkowski’s net to level the tie.
From the equalising goal, Rovers looked the better team as they managed to retain possession and move the ball forwards in a much better manner than they were doing before the Graham goal. With a spring in their step, it wasn’t long before Bradley Dack showed the Championship what he was about on the 29th minute, as he continued his scintillating form from last season, to give Mowbray’s men the goal their pressure deserved. Some lovely interplay by Danny Graham and Derrick Williams saw the latter burst down the left-hand side with no challengers ahead of him. With the prospect of a free cross finding Bradley Dack in the middle of the box, Williams supplied the ammunition for Dack to tap the ball home from close-range, leaving the defenders in his wake as he wheeled away in celebration of his first Championship goal on his first apperance.
On the 35th minute, Ellis Harrison, also an apparent summer target for Rovers, saw himself go into the book after chopping down Charlie Mulgrew, late after the Rover captain had already played the ball.
Ipswich made their first substitution of the game as the injured Jordan Spence was replaced by Luke Wolfenden.
Seconds prior to the call for 4 minutes of added time before the break, Ipswich had a chance to level the scoring again when Cole Skuse met Freddie Sears’ cross, but the central midfielder failed to make clean contact with the ball, as it slid off his head and went behind for a goal-kick.
As the 4 minutes of added time came and went with no opportunities for either side, referee Andy Davies called an end to a hot and cold first 45 minutes.
As both sides utilised the 15-minute break to restock on fluids and receive the all-important words of wisdom from their managers, Rovers’ perspective on the game would have been nothing but a positive one, as Tony Mowbray would have surely been delighted with the way his side recovered from going a goal down. In the home side dressing room however, despite their good play to take the lead initially, Paul Hurst would have no doubt been fuming regarding his sides’ lack of defensive awareness on both goals, including their inability to clear their lines and pick up on the second ball from Smallwood’s set-piece from the first goal.
With both sides reappearing for the second-half with their respective managers’ words ringing in their ears, Rovers would have looked to play it safe for the first 10 minutes of the half, in order to maintain their lead and not see the hosts equalise due to a lack of concentration.
As the game was restarted, it didn’t take long for Rovers to continue the fine work they had started in the first period, as Bradley Dack gained possession of the ball on the 51st minute and drove towards the Ipswich box. He used his famous footwork and upper body strength to bypass a couple of defenders before going down in the box, to roars of the away fans pleading for a penalty. Despite the appeals of over 1000 Rovers supporters, referee Andy Davies waved away the appeals, as play continued.
On the 53rd minute, Elliott Bennett became the first Rovers player of the season, to fall into the referee’s book, as he received a yellow card, after fouling Trevor Chalobah on the edge of the Ipswich penalty area.
With just over an hour gone, both sides decided to freshen up their ranks with Ipswich bringing on Tayo Edun for Flynn Downes, whilst Rovers introduced Joe Nuttall and Kasey Palmer for Danny Graham and Dominic Samuel respectively.
Nuttall’s first contribution to the game, on the 69th minute, was to close down the Ipswich defence, which allowed him to earn his side a throw-in. That throw-in was taken quickly, into the path of Bradley Dack, whose hold-up play allowed him to lay the ball off into Corry Evans. The Northern Irishman didn’t even hesitate before striking the ball as far away from Bialkowski’s goal as possible, much to the disappointment of the away fans.
4 minutes after Evans’ wasted chance, Luke Chambers went into the book for a foul on Elliott Bennett, which gave Charlie Mulgrew the opportunity to potentially score a free-kick in the second opening game of the season, in a row. Unfortunately for the expectant Rovers fans, Mulgrew’s effort paid no resemblance to his strike 12 months ago, at Southend United, as the ball ballooned over the bar.
On the 78th minute, Rovers had a chance to wrap the game up through Nuttall and Palmer. Ryan Nyambe did well to gain possession, then play the ball into Dack, whose pass across goal fell directly to the feet of Joe Nuttall, whose effort was blocked. His blocked effort wasn’t cleared by the home side, as Palmer came in to try and poke the rebound home, but his effort was also saved, as Rovers were left to rue a golden missed opportunity to put the game to bed.
Following that chance, Ipswich decided to make their final change of the game, as they introduced Ben Morris for Freddie Sears, in an attempt to try and salvage something from the clash.
With less than 10 minutes on the clock, Ipswich cranked up the pressure, which saw David Raya called upon to make a fantastic save. Despite not being needed since the first-half, Raya showed that his concentration levels remained high, as he stood firm to deny Ipswich’s substitute, Ben Morris, with his legs, as he kept Rovers in-front.
From the subsequent corner, following Raya’s save from Morris, the Rovers ‘keeper was left in no-man’s land, as he flapped at the ball whilst trying to fend off Ellis Harrison. The former Bristol Rovers man did well to turn the ‘keeper and loft a ball into the box which was met by the head of Luke Wolfenden, but unfortunately for the home crowd, Wolfenden’s header flew over the bar.
Mowbray then played his final card with 7 minutes left, as Craig Conway was introduced in place of Bradley Dack.
On the 86th minute, Gwion Edwards showed why many Championship clubs were scouting and bidding for him over the summer, as he stormed down the wing – after leaving Derrick Williams for dead – and chopped inside before releasing a powerful shot from his right-foot, which looked destined to sneak past Raya’s near post, had Darragh Lenihan not got his head in the way to block the attempt.
With a minute to go on the clock, both Darragh Lenihan and Richie Smallwood went into the book for successive challenges, which gave Ipswich the time to recover and potentially calculate how they would get past Rovers’ defence and into the back of the net.
Although Rovers had remained resilient throughout the second-half, all of their good work was undone by a total fluke by Tayo Edun. The substitute – making his debut for the Tractor Boys – received the ball on the wing following a deep free-kick which didn’t reach the Rovers penalty area. Edun looked up, before releasing a cross intended for the barrage of Ipswich players at the back-post, however, they were ultimately not needed, as the ball trickled past the crowd of players before rolling into the back of the net after striking the post, to draw the home side level, right at the death, as full-time followed after a lacklustre 4 minutes of added time were played.
With the return to the Championship coughing up no easy games, Rovers were able to fulfil their manager’s pre-match expectation of transmitting the hard-work and energy of last season and pre-season, into the new campaign. Although the goal by Edun at the end, comes as a smack in the face, despite the Blues’ – (or the Yellows’ rather) – late first-half and early second-half dominance, this point would have certainly been taken by a majority of the fans when the fixtures were released.
In spite of the course of the match potentially emphasising that Rovers ‘dropped 2 points’, this ‘kick in the teeth’, could be a blessing in disguise, as it now forces Rovers to maintain their concentration for the whole 90 minutes, plus stoppages, as they will no doubt be determined to not let the same mistake happen again.
As Rovers played alongside 16 other teams on the opening day, the table means little to nothing at this point, however, saying that, Rovers find themselves in a healthy 7th position, a spot where, many fans would snap hands off for.
With the opening day bonanza behind Mowbray and his men, concentration now turns to Saturday 11th August at 3pm, when Neil Harris’s Millwall travel to Ewood Park, in a game which Tony Mowbray will be hoping the home crowd can, in his words, ‘suck the ball into the back of the net’. Following on from that game, there’s a 3 day wait before Rovers are back in action in the Carabao Cup, away at Brunton Park, where they face Carlisle United, on Tuesday 14th August (19:45 KO).
