Rovers rounded off, what has primarily been a disappointing week, with an emphatic victory over Championship stalwarts, Sheffield Wednesday, as the players and supporters united under the lights at Ewood Park, to mark Tony Mowbray’s contract extension by putting 4 goals past the struggling Owls, courtesy of Danny Graham’s first-ever Rovers treble on his 100th Rovers league start.
Prior to the game, the manager has placed an onus on his player to show the fans what they are really capable of and to ‘get back to what they do best’, which is to produce performances full of hard-work, passion and desire, all of which were on show this afternoon.
The gaffer made a whole host of changes to both the starting and the back-up contingencies as 3 changes were made to the starting-11. Paul Downing, Derrick Williams and Craig Conway – who was making his 300th club career appearance – started the tie, as they replaced Adam Armstrong – who dropped to the bench – Jack Rodwell and Amari’i Bell both of whom were withdrawn completely, the former due to a head injury, the latter due to tactics. Lewis Travis and Joe Nuttall were introduced onto the bench, as Rovers looked to add more healthy bodies to their ranks. Furthermore, Darragh Lenihan and Elliott Bennett were both suffering from various injuries, hence their absence.
As kick-off approached, following the pre-match handshakes and coin toss, it was Sheffield Wednesday who took the kick-off as they – backed by 3,578 vocal fans – were looking to earn back-to-back league victories for the first time since a 2-1 home victory over Millwall, was followed by a 2-1 win away at Reading.
After some early flurries towards goal by Rovers, which resulted in crosses and corners being easily dealt with by the visitors, the Blues earnt a wide free-kick, on the 5th minute, which came as a result of former Rovers loanee, Lucas João’s foul on Craig Conway. The set-piece, taken by the Scot bounced around in the box before being turned home by Bradley Dack, as Ewood Park celebrated. Unfortunately for the players and the fans, their dream start was cut short due to the referee’s whistle, after it was deemed that Rovers had committed a foul amongst the scramble for the ball.
Rovers’ intense start to the game continued, 2 minutes later, as Harrison Reed came a whisker away from side-footing Rovers ahead. An inviting cross by Craig Conway, deceived Wednesday’s ‘keeper and defence, before landing to the feet of Reed who hit it first-time. Unluckily for the midfielder, his shot missed by what seemed to be millimetres.
It only took 11 minutes for the opening goal of the game, however, and it came Rovers’ way, after their early dominance of the ball finally paid off, thanks to Dack’s movement and Graham’s execution. Rovers began a counter-attack through Conway, who did well to keep the ball in-play, before playing the ball into Dack, who was making a smart run inside centre-half, Tom Lees. Conway found the playmaker with a well-weighted pass, as Dack dummied Michael Hector before releasing a shot which Wednesday shot-stopper Cameron Dawson could only parry into the path of Danny Graham, whose task was simplified by the open goal, as he tapped Rovers into a 1-0 lead.
Soon after the restart, Rovers had the chance to make it 2-0 from Charlie Mulgrew’s long-range free-kick, which was aimed as a cross into the box. Unfortunately for the Scot, his set-piece wasn’t delivered with its usual accuracy, as the visitors earnt a goal-kick.
David Raya was called into action on the 26th minute as Jordan Thorniley tried to feed his strikers with a high cross into the box, which, unluckily for the Owls, Raya was alert enough to claim, as the attack fizzled out.
With 38 minutes gone, Rovers earnt themselves a corner, which resulted in Paul Downing being booked, following his tackle on halfway, after Wednesday tried to counter from the cleared set-piece.
From the Wednesday free-kick, they mustered up enough energy to earn a corner, after Derrick Williams cleared away a Liam Palmer cross. Although Wednesday had considerable height in the box, the eventual corner came to nothing, as Rovers easily cleared the ball.
On the 42nd minute, Rovers nearly doubled their advantage through Dack, after he had combined well with Conway, again. The winger pulled the ball back for the former Gillingham man, but the 24-year old’s shot slipped off his boot due to the wet conditions and ended up among the 3,578 Wednesday supporters in the Bryan Douglas Darwen End.
Liam Palmer nearly found himself with a good opportunity to fire at goal, after he had been slipped through, in behind Williams. Despite the right-back’s good run to latch onto the pass, David Raya was equal to his movement, as the Spaniard charged out of his goal to clear the danger, before berating the defence in-front of him.
With Rovers still ahead, referee Robert Jones called for 3 minutes of added time, due to the goals and several stoppages for treatment. That allocated time, however, flew by with little to talk about, as the half-time whistle was soon blown to end the torment for the travelling Owls.
As the break began, both sides would have been reflecting on the first 45 minutes with contrasting views. The home changing room would have been delighted with their response, following on from their back-to-back defeats against Preston North End and Wigan Athletic, over the course of the week just gone and Tony Mowbray would have been in overjoyed with how his side had played, despite only being a goal ahead.
Contrastingly, however, Jos Luhukay would have been tearing the dressing room’s wallpaper down after watching Wednesday’s performance. His side had ended the half with no shots and lacked the desire and fluidity that would normally be associated with the quality within the Owls’ ranks. Despite beating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 in their previous outing and only scoring 6 goals in their last 8 games, Luhukay’s team were going to have to muster more than 1 goal in just 45 minutes, if they wanted to leave Ewood Park with a ‘smash and grab’ victory.
As both sides returned to the pitch to start the second-half, Wednesday returned with 2 alterations to their side, as Marco Matias and Steven Fletcher were replaced by Atdhe Nuhiu and Fernando Forestieri, in a bit to try and change their fortunes and create more of an attacking threat.
Rovers restarted the game for the second-half and immediately found themselves with a chance to double their advantage from a Craig Conway corner. The winger swung in a corner, which was met by the head of Derrick Williams, however Dawson, in the Wednesday goal, was on hand to block the shot, as it hit him straight in the face, as it bounced away from goal before being cleared.
On the 49th minute, Adam Reach led a counter-attack which culminated in the midfielder releasing an outside of the foot shot, that Raya had covered, as the Spaniard did well to get down quickly at his near-post and deny Reach the leveller. The subsequent corner again fell to Reach who hit a low half volley, which deflected behind for another second successive corner, which was then cleared.
A couple of minutes after Reach’s attempt, Rovers nearly made it 2-0, but Harrison Reed’s run and shot was blocked by a Wednesday man, before offside was called for by the referee.
It was only a matter of seconds however, before Rovers did make it 2-0, courtesy of Bradley Dack, who was back to his usual self, after an abnormal couple of games, where he had been unusually quiet. Paul Downing intercepted the ball inside his own half, before taking on and bypassing Barry Bannan, before laying the ball into the path of Graham, who then hit an inviting first time cross towards Dackm who had ghosted in towards the far-post and only had to tuck the ball past Dawson, to double Rovers’ lead.
From the kick-off, Dack was taken out by Barry Bannan who received a booking for his troubles, whilst the subsequent free-kick by Mulgrew deflected behind for a corner, which came to nothing.
With 59 minutes gone, Harrison Reed nearly got the goal that his energetic, underrated performance had deserved, however his low effort was well saved by Dawson.
From Dawson’s save, Wednesday began a counter-attack that led to Lucas João haunting his former loan side, with a vicious effort that blitzed past David Raya, who was powerless to stop it. João picked up the ball from around 30-yards out, with an hour gone and struck the ball with some much venom, that Raya couldn’t even reach it, as it nestled in the back of the net to reduce the deficit to 2-1.
It wasn’t long however, until 2-1 became 3-1, through Graham bragging his brace and finishing off Dack’s hard work. The number 23, effortlessly found his way through a defence that didn’t want to press him. Dack then struck an effort from the edge of the area, that rebounded off the post and into Graham’s path, as the forward again, only had to tuck the ball home, into an empty net, from mere yards, as Ewood Park again erupted euphorically.
On the 74th minute, Reach again tried to get his side back in the game with an effort from distance, but his contact was poor as he sliced the shot wide.
From the goal-kick by Raya, Conway found himself with an opportunity to shoot at goal, but found his attempt blocked by on-loan Chelsea defender, Hector. Soon after Wednesday regained possession, Nuhiu had his first attempt of the game, but saw it fly wide as he failed to test Raya.
With over 10 minutes left, Conway again found himself denied a goal that would have capped off a brilliant return to the side. Dack did well to find the winger, who cut inside and released a right-footed shot that had Dawson scrambling to tip over. The subsequent corner led to another Conway effort, which saw Wednesday conceded a second successive corner, which was then eventually cleared.
With 6 minutes left, Wednesday found their way back into the game, after Rovers’ defence, momentarily switched off, which allowed Barry Bannan through to lessen the gap to 3-2 and make the final few minutes nervy. The midfielder found his way beyond the defence and into the box, before his delicate dink came back off the post and fell back into his path. With Raya scrambling, Bannan managed to get enough on the ball to poke it towards goal, however as Raya jumped to try and block it, the ball slid underneath him, before hitting his back and rolling into the net, classing the goal as a blemish on Raya’s record, rather than a goal of Bannan’s record.
From the goal, Rovers made their first change of the afternoon as Corry Evans was replaced by Lewis Travis.
The goals did not dry up at 3-2, however, as after Danny Graham executed some fine hold-up play near the corner flag in the Wednesday half, the forward found himself celebrating his first hat-trick in over a decade, after he and Dack, once again combined to finish off the Owls at 4-2. Richie Smallwood received the ball on the edge of the Wednesday penalty area and slid through Dack, who took a touch before squaring it for Graham who, once again, found the goal gaping, as he wheeled away in celebration of his treble.
With the game all but complete, 5 minutes of added time were allocated seconds before Danny Graham was named the club sponsor’s Man of the Match, following his impeccable performance in-front of goal.
During added time, Rovers made a double change which saw Adam Armstrong and Ben Brereton come on to replace the goalscorers, Bradley Dack and Danny Graham, as the pair left to a standing ovation from the home fans. Wednesday also made a change of their own in the meanwhile, as substitute Forestieri was then removed due to injury and replaced by Tottenham Hotspur loanee, Josh Onomah for the final seconds.
It wasn’t long until Robert Jones called time on a game that proved what Rovers were about as they displayed the quality of passing and finishing that the previous pair of games were crying out for.
This victory could arguably be claimed to be the most important 3 points of the season, solely due to the losses that came prior to it. The ability to regroup and produce such an exhilarating, confident, passionate performance, coupled with a plethora of hard-work across the board, for the third time in a week, is a testament to Tony Mowbray’s motivational skills and his training regime, not to mention his staff and the players themselves, who came out on the hallowed turf of Ewood Park and proved themselves to be up for the challenge of the Championship, despite their minor blips against local rivals.
The previous report against Wigan Athletic concluded with a statement; ‘…where have the Leeds, Brentford and Stoke performances – and more importantly, effort – gone?’ This performance and outstanding victory, it’s fair to say, has answered that question and has reshuffled the mindsets of many people who were doubting whether this squad – playing and non-playing staff as a collective – had what it takes to compete in this division at a high level.
Once again, the players all deserve immense credit for the way they reacted and put on a spectacle that the fans could be proud of. Although the plaudits will no doubt go to the hat-trick hero, Danny Graham and his skilful sidekick, Bradley Dack, there is no doubt that special plaudits need to be distributed to the whole starting-11, but increasingly so to Craig Conway and Paul Downing, who both came in from the cold and put in 8-9/10 performances each, as they showed that, despite their relative lack of game time, they were willing to leave it all on the pitch and work until the final whistle in trying to guarantee the club, the best possible result.
With this significant win in the bag, Rovers have now elevated their standings in the league table, to 10th, with 29 points and a negative 4 goal difference from 20 games, to their name.
The completion of this game and the entry into December sees the annual festive football fixture list hot up for Rovers as the games begin to fly in, thick and fast. Rovers’ next tie sees them travel to Teeside, where they are welcomed by Tony Pulis’ Middlesbrough side – on Saturday 8th December at 3pm – who will be looking to get back on track after losing 3-0 to Aston Villa today. After departing the Riverside, Rovers return to Ewood Park to face Garry Monk’s Birmingham City side, who have had a resurgence in form this season, despite being tipped for a low and possible relegation finish over the summer. This clash is set for Saturday, 15th December at 3pm. The final fixture before Christmas sees Daniel Farke’s high-flying Norwich City side make the trip to Ewood Park on Saturday 22nd December at 3pm, as they look to continue their fine form which has seen them top the table, as of game week 20.
