A ‘crazy’, but ‘breathless’ game down at the Hawthorns saw Rovers overcome injuries, a goal and a bizarre alteration to the line-up, as the players and the 1,978 fans departed the former Premier League ground with a well-valued, but hard-fought point to their name.
During the build-up to the game, the focus of Rovers’ media was on Tony Mowbray, who was returning to the club that he guided to the Championship title, nearly a decade ago. Although the focus was on the manager, Mowbray himself was focused on performances, rather than pleasantries, as he was looking to see a reaction from his side, following their midweek 3-1 defeat away at Swansea City.
With the game, came wholesale changes, as Mowbray made 5 alterations to the side that had fallen to the Swans on Tuesday. Jack Rodwell was brought in for the injured Darragh Lenihan, whilst Derrick Williams, Joe Rothwell, Kasey Palmer and Craig Conway all came into the starting-11 at the expenses of Amari’i Bell, Corry Evans, Adam Armstrong and Danny Graham, all of whom were respectively dropped to the bench.
Due to the changes, Rovers did not have a recognised striker on the pitch, which allowed Bradley Dack to pick up the title of ‘lone striker.’ The heavily shuffled side, looked – on paper – like this; Raya was between the posts, whilst a back four of Bennett, Mulgrew, Rodwell and Williams stood ahead of him. Smallwood and Reed were in the holding midfield roles, whilst Palmer and Rothwell were on the wings. The side was rounded-up with Conway playing in behind Dack, in a switch by Mowbray, which would have allowed any of the front 4 to fluidly dovetail and switch positions freely.
The game was started by Darren Moore’s Albion side who were looking to bounce back with a win, following their heavy 4-1 defeat at the hands of Frank Lampard’s Derby County side on Wednesday. The Baggies came into this tie, having lost to Wigan Athletic last Saturday, despite them being the top scorers domestically, in Europe, only behind Paris Saint Germain, of France.
The first chance of the game fell to the home side, as on-loan Leicester City midfielder Harvey Barnes tried his luck from around 20-25 yards out, 6 minutes in, which David Raya did comfortably to get behind.
With a quarter of an hour gone, Rovers were beginning to think that it was going to be one of ‘those’ days, as skipper Charlie Mulgrew was bundled over following a challenge just inside the Rovers half. The Scot went down clutching his torso as Rovers’ physio came to meet him. Following a few minutes of treatment, it was deemed that the captain could not continue in the tie, which prompted Rovers’ first change of the game, as Amari’i Bell was introduced, which allowed Derrick Williams to move over into centre-back.
Soon after Mulgrew’s departure, Kyle Bartley found himself in the referee’s notebook, following a poor challenge on Kasey Palmer, 17 minutes in.
Despite being fouled, Palmer soon followed Bartley into the book as minutes later, the Chelsea loanee put in a similar challenge inside the Rovers half, conceding a free-kick in the process. The subsequent set-piece, on the 23rd minute, was floated into the box, but only cleared as far as James Morrison, whose effort from outside the box ended up with the Rovers fans behind the goal, much to their delight.
On the 32nd minute, Rovers had a stonewall penalty turned down by referee Scott Duncan, despite ferocious claims by everyone in a yellow shirt. Harrison Reed did well to bypass a couple of defenders, before putting in a cross which appeared to have hit a raised arm in the penalty area. Everybody in the stadium saw the handball, bar the only person who mattered, which was the referee, who waved play on.
Mere seconds after being denied a penalty, Rovers had some defending to do as West Brom broke quickly through Jay Rodriguez. The former Burnley man was gifted the ball by Derrick Williams, before forcing Raya into a save, which rebounded into the striker’s path. The ball bounced up nicely for Rodriguez, but despite virtually having an open goal, he somehow managed to volley it over the crossbar.
From the goal-kick, Rovers got the ball downfield and crafted an opportunity of their own, which came courtesy of Joe Rothwell. The former Oxford United man received the ball before turning and striking a shot at goal, which ballooned up over the bar.
Despite not being able to find the back of the net through Rodriguez, the second highest domestic scorers in Europe soon found their way into Rovers’ goal, after Matt Phillips’ corner, landed onto the head of Craig Dawson, who notched his 39th career goal. The corner came following some sloppy play by Rovers which saw Elliott Bennett forced into conceding a corner. Phillips’ deep cross fell to Dawson, who outmuscled substitute Amari’i Bell, before powering a header past Raya and into the back of the net, to make it 1-0, as the home crowd erupted.
From the restart, Rovers went on the attack and saw Joe Rothwell miss a gilt-edge chance to level the scoring directly from the kick-off. A clearance by Raya saw Rothwell, tee up Richie Smallwood, whose pass was played into the feet of Bradley Dack, who had his back to goal. The Rovers striker turned Dawson, before slipping through Rothwell who had made a good run forwards. Rothwell received the ball on the edge of the area and took a touch, which took him into the box, before trying his luck from close range. Unfortunately, the midfielder couldn’t find his first in Rovers colours, as Sam Johnstone produced a good save to deny him.
After 4 minutes of added time were called for by the referee, minute 2 of the 4, saw Rothwell in with another chance to level the scoring, as he accelerated away from his marker and hit a shot from distance. Although the drive was a powerful one, Johnstone did well to get down and deny the Rovers man.
With all 4 minutes of time played, Scott Duncan, the official called an end to a half which, bar the goal, lacked any sort of momentum from the home side, as Rovers, despite losing Mulgrew, were looking the better side in possession of the ball.
Despite West Brom heading into the break with the lead, Darren Moore would have been frustrated that his side were unable to take the lead earlier, and ultimately double their advantage, through Jay Rodriguez, who must have still been thinking about his glaring miss during the break.
In the away dressing room, the reaction to the first 45 minutes would have been a bit more heated than in the opposite room. Tony Mowbray would have been fuming due to the goal being conceded from a set-piece, however the disorganisation of it, probably came due to Mulgrew’s absence. The former Baggies boss would have been sending a message of encouragement to his players as they knew that West Brom were not at their best, and ultimately there for the taking.
Both teams reappeared for the second-half unchanged, as Bradley Dack restarted the game in the hope that his talents would leave a mark on the game.
Seconds into the half saw Kasey Palmer craft his first, and ultimately only opportunity of the game, as his determination and footwork allowed him to dribble beyond a couple of Albion defenders, before firing over from just inside the area.
On the 50th minute, Manchester City loanee, Tosin Adarabioyo could have put his side further ahead had his header, from yards out, hit the back of the net, however the centre-back was left to rue his missed opportunity.
Moments later, Matt Phillips led another Baggies burst forwards, as a cross into the box found the Scottish international whose attempt at goal was well stopped by the reflexes of David Raya.
On the 58th minute, Rovers were forced into another change due to injury, as Jack Rodwell departed and was replaced by Lewis Travis, who slotted in at centre-back, alongside Williams, in Rovers’ makeshift backline.
On the hour mark, Darren Moore used the first of his 3 substitutes to withdraw Bakary Sako, and replace him with former Norwich City stalwart, Wes Hoolahan.
2 minutes after Hoolahan’s introduction, Rovers had another claim for a penalty waved away by the referee after Kasey Palmer hit the deck, yards out from the goalline. The Chelsea loanee used his pace and strength to get away from Bartley and Conor Townsend, before seemingly being bundled over by the former, just as he was about to pull the trigger. Although there was great appeal from the 1,978 Rovers supporters behind the goal, Scott Duncan waved play on.
Palmer’s final contribution to the game, was his winning of a free-kick, on the edge of the West Brom box, which gave Dack the perfect opportunity to shoot at goal. Prior to Dack’s attempt, Palmer was withdrawn and replaced by Adam Armstrong in Rovers’ final change. Following the change, Dack stepped up and sorted out his angles before striking the free-kick was a whisker away from the post.
With 70 minutes on the clock, Rovers upped their pressure as they received a corner, which Craig Conway took. The set-piece was played short and was eventually cleared by West Brom, but Rovers soon recycled the ball and crafted their best opportunity of the game, which ultimately led to the levelling of the scores.
Harrison Reed picked up the ball from 25-yards out after it had deflected into his path, following a tackle by an Albion man. The Southampton loanee, who had run his socks off all game for Mowbray’s side, dribbled towards the Albion defenders, who were backing and getting deeper by the second, before whipping in a luscious strike that had Sam Johnstone scrambling, as the scores were tied at 1-1, and the 1,978 Rovers fans were sent into euphoria.
With 15 minutes left, the home side increased their pressure on Rovers’ goal as they tried to get themselves back ahead. Jay Rodriguez got hold of the ball before trying to replicate Reed’s effort, from a similar distance, however the former Southampton man’s effort went behind for a goal-kick.
Seconds later, Rodriguez had another chance as he broke into the Rovers box and struck a shot at goal from close range. Although Raya was in a good position, Derrick Williams superbly put his body on the line and threw himself at the ball as he successfully denied the forward from potentially giving his side the lead again.
Before West Brom could take their corner, which was ultimately cleared by Rovers, Moore made his second change of the game, as he introduced Chris Brunt – who was a Tony Mowbray signing back in 2007 – to replace Harvey Barnes.
On the 82nd minute, the game evolved into a rather crazy affair. After being played through on goal, Jay Rodriguez hunted down the ball, which David Raya did well to claim. In his attempts at trying to poke the ball past the onrushing Spaniard, Rodriguez had left his foot in, which caused the boot of Rodriguez to collide with Raya’s face, leaving the ‘keeper with a bloody face and a broken nose. Although Raya had kept hold of the ball, he was hunched and not moving, as his teammates animatedly gestured for the physio’s attention. After being checked out by Rovers’ physio, it was deemed that Raya could not carry on, and was subsequently stretchered off, before being taken directly to hospital – (and at the time of writing this, it has been confirmed that Raya has been released from hospital, but further checks will have to be made before he is cleared to play).
With Rovers having made all 3 changes earlier on in the game, the task of standing between the posts, fell onto Richie Smallwood, who donned Jayson Leutwiler’s rather large shirt, much to the delight of Bradley Dack, who can be seen in replays to be laughing at Smallwood as he put on his gloves.
With Rovers down to 10 men and the ‘King of Ewood’ in goal, Darren Moore made a bold final change, as he withdrew Kyle Bartley and replaced the defender with Wales’ Euro 2016 hero, Hal Robson-Kanu.
On the 89th minute, Smallwood got his first taste of goalkeeping as he rushed out to claim a through ball that was meant to fall into the feet of Rodriguez. Thankfully for the away end, who let out a massive cheer afterwards, Smallwood had it covered has he came out to smother the ball, whilst also wasting seconds in the process.
Due to Raya’s injury, the goal and the substitutions, 7 minutes were added onto the end of the game as the chewing of nails ensued in the away end, because of Albion’s increase in pressure.
On the 92nd minute, all of Rovers’ hard-work looked to have gone, as Adarabioyo nodded a corner towards goal which Smallwood missed. Thankfully for the Yellows, the header went past the post, as Rovers earnt a goal-kick, which allowed Smallwood to earn a much-needed drink and waste more seconds, much to the frustrations of the home crowd.
With 94 minutes gone, some heroic defending on the line by Rovers, saw West Brom denied a late winner more than once. Some good play by the home side resulted in a deep cross by James Morrison, which was headed towards goal by Robson-Kanu, who saw his shot literally stopped on the line by a combination of Lewis Travis and Derrick Williams. The direct follow-up by Hoolahan was amazingly blocked by the boot of the retreating Dack, who alongside Travis, Williams and Smallwood, had created a wall on the goalline, in order to deny the Baggies, the winner, as the ball was soon cleared by Conway.
Once the ball had been cleared, Scott Duncan finally blew for the full-time whistle, which confirmed that both sides would take a share of the spoils, following, what had been an emotional roller coaster for everyone from Lancashire.
Due to all the drama surrounding Smallwood and the goalkeeping situation, it’s easy to forget that there was a game in the midst of all the action, mainly due to the fact that West Brom, bar their goal and up until Raya’s departure, did not really pose as big a threat as Swansea did, on Tuesday. Additionally, despite Rovers’ ‘improvised’ team selection, which kept getting more and more ‘makeshift’ as time passed, the boys in yellow proved that they were more than capable of going toe-to-toe with one of the best sides in the division. Despite the Dawson goal being the major dampener on the game, from a Rovers perspective, the players, along with the encouragement and tactical wisdom of Tony Mowbray did brilliantly well to salvage a point from a position, they arguably should not have found themselves in. Although Smallwood will mainly get the headlines, a special mention has to go to the goalscorer, Harrison Reed, who although scored the equaliser, put in a gutsy and tireless performance which saw him cover every blade of grass, even in the dying embers of the game, when the rest of the side looked to have used up all of the fuel in their tanks.
With another draw chalked up on the record, Rovers, following the completion of the late kick-off, now find themselves in 12th place on 22 points with a -2 goal difference, which on the surface may look bad. However, this, coupled with the knowledge that opponents West Bromwich Albion sit in 5th on 25 points, takes the disappointment one may feel after seeing Rovers in 12th, away.
Rovers head into November on a high, knowing that they have back-to-back home games waiting for them. The first game sees Rovers host in-form Queens Park Rangers, at Ewood Park on Saturday, 3rd November, with kick-off scheduled for 3pm. After that, the Blues remain at home and welcome Rotherham United, a week later, on Saturday, 7th November, with the start also scheduled for 3pm. Once those games are done, the third international break of the season kicks in, which sees club football put on the back burner for a fortnight.
