In the wake of Rovers’ 1-1 draw against Rotherham United, which saw the hosts have to fightback from a goal down in the final 10 minutes to salvage a draw, Rovers boss Tony Mowbray revealed his frustrations, to the clubs’ media team, regarding his teams’ lack of ruthlessness in-front of goal.
“Not getting all of the points after dominating the way we did, is hugely frustrating. We have to give Rotherham some credit, because they defended very resolutely, with lots of men behind the ball and they were always a threat on the counter-attack. We dealt with their physical presence up front a lot better in the second-half than we did in the first, but ultimately, in some games you can feel like you’re in control, but you don’t get that goal that puts you ahead, like today. We created so many chances, which is what we’re disappointed about. Had it been a tight game with not many shots, we’d be sitting here saying we weren’t good enough, but that wasn’t the case today.
“Adam Armstrong was a big threat for us with his pace, as was Ryan Nyambe when he came off the bench. We worked the wide areas really well, because we knew that they were strong in the middle which showed, through how they dealt with us, but thankfully Bradley (Dack) found the yard of space to score. We had 2 chances cleared off the line in a matter of seconds, we also hit the bar through Armstrong in the first-half and their ‘keeper kept making save after save. We need to put the point in the bag, take the positives from this game knowing that we have the quality to build-up some pressure against Championship teams. We played some really good attacking football in the second-half. One of the pleasing things for me, is that, when I make substitutions, our attacking intent and intensity don’t ebb away. All of the lads who came off the bench made an impact, and they’ve given me problems for future selections with their performances.
“I was pretty sure that following the attacking changes, we were going to push on and get a second goal to win it. I was so annoyed at their time-wasting and the slowing of the game, yet I don’t think the referee booked anybody as a result. I felt as if they were taking the mickey out of the officials with their continuous time-wasting at set-pieces, but despite that, Rotherham have shown this season that they are capable of nicking results away from home. They drew 0-0 at Middlesbrough, got a 1-1 draw at Preston and drew again here today, so their hard work away from home has got them valuable points.
“We’ve seen similar performances from Adam (Armstrong), so it’s no surprise to me, because that’s the quality the lad possesses. Teams will target him, as they do to Bradley, so it’s good to see that we have more than one attacking outlet. I’ve told Adam, that at some point in his career for us, he will be our centre-forward, but at the moment with him only being 21, he needs to adapt to where we need him, whether that being on the wing, up-top besides Danny (Graham), or on his own in a 4-3-3, which is something we’re capable of doing. I’m delighted for Adam in terms of his performance, but also disappointed that none of his efforts found the back of the net. Although, I’m happy with today’s performance, I’m not happy with the result. What I do know, however, is that if we play like we did today, in every home game, we’re going to win most games.
“Brad’s goals come because of some good team play. Most of the goals he’s scored this season, come through the lads creating the chances for him to put away, as he bursts into the 6-yard box, which sets him aside from a lot of the number 10s who are in this game. He has to keep working hard and keep scoring goals in order for us to keep winning matches. We love him to bits and he knows that. We as a football club, need to continue to progress in order to keep Bradley, because if we stagnate, I’m pretty sure his career won’t. We need to keep recruiting in order to try and push into the Premier League, because that’s ultimately where he’ll want to play. Saying all that however, we’re happy with him. He’s a brilliant kid who’s not letting his success get to his head. He’s fantastic around the dressing room and he’s a joy to manage, to be honest.
“Our recruitment and scouting never stops. We’re not going to start that during this international break, because we began it a long time ago. I’ve asked the owners if we can increase the funds available for our recruitment department, in order to make sure we have better coverage than we do at the moment. They have approved that, so we will invest a little bit of money into that department, which will allow our scouts to go to Europe and look out for talent, because at the moment we don’t have anyone covering areas such as France, Germany, Holland and the Scandinavian countries. This club has a history of good Scandinavian talent coming through and performing well and we’re potentially missing out on footballers who can help improve our team and get us to the next level. The owners have been good in that respect, but I highly doubt that everything we’ve set out for, will be in-place and ready for January. We do have targets in mind who we’d want to bring in, in January, but beyond that, we need to keep developing the network in order to cast an eye over a bigger selection of players. We’re always looking to add to the squad, and the existing players need to know that, they need to keep working hard and improving in order to continue on the journey.
“Over the last block of games, I think we’ve shown that we can compete with the teams in this division and yet I stand here thinking that the games coming up against Preston and Wigan are going to be really tough, due to them being derbies, away from home. I think, sometimes as a coach, the fear factor drives your intensity, so less than an hour after this game, I’m thinking about how we’re going to play against Preston and who will be selected, even though it’s in 2 weeks’ time. My first thoughts of Preston, are that they have some very talented footballers and are in a false position in the league and that’s how it works in my mind, we never stop. Yes, we’ll have a bit of a break in order to give the lads some breathing time after the games and the traveling we’ve done, but we’ll also be working hard in preparation for Preston.”
