Rovers’ unbeaten start to 2019 came to an end at the hands of Rafa Benítez’s much changed Newcastle United side, as Tony Mowbray’s men, despite a valiant performance, bowed out of the FA Cup at the 3rd round, in-front of the BT Sport cameras.
With Rovers set to play their fourth match in the space of a couple of weeks, Tony Mowbray was forced to make 5 changes to the side that beat Millwall 2-0, the Saturday prior. Ryan Nyambe, Richie Smallwood, Ben Brereton, Adam Armstrong and Danny Graham all came into the starting-line up to replace Jack Rodwell, Corry Evans, Bradley Dack, Craig Conway and Joe Nuttall, respectively, with the latter trio featuring on the subs bench for Rovers.
With the 2,177 Geordies house in the lower tier of the Darwen End, it was their side who began the affair at kick-off, however it wasn’t long until they were celebrating the opening goal of the tie, which came substantially quicker than Dack’s goal did at St. James’ Park, 10 days prior.
Some sound build-up inside the opening 60 seconds of the game saw former Blackpool loanee Sean Longstaff net his first goal for the Toon, from around 25-yards out. The 21-year old received the ball and was able to turn, under no pressure, before winding up a shot that looked as if it was going straight towards David Raya. Although the Spaniard had himself well positioned and alert, the strike was pushed off course by Amari’i Bell’s back, which saw the ball wrongfoot the Rovers ‘keeper and nestle into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, to give Newcastle an early 1-0 lead.
The visitors were in again, this time on the 12th minute, when Callum Roberts picked the ball up inside the Rovers half and drove forwards towards goal, before releasing a shot that flew over Raya’s net.
The pressure from the Premier League side did not stop there, as a minute later, Jacob Murphy and Matt Richie combined well to allow the latter a chance at increasing Newcastle’s lead. Murphy used his pace to get beyond the Rovers defence and reach Jamie Sterry’s through ball. Once Murphy had the ball under control, he managed to pull the ball back for Richie to strike at goal, however the former Bournemouth midfielder was well denied at the front-post by the legs of Raya.
On the 19th minute, Rovers broke free of the Newcastle pressure and tried to find an equaliser. Lewis Travis delivered a deep cross which Danny Graham nodded down into Adam Armstrong’s path. The former Newcastle forward wasted no time in laying off Richie Smallwood who struck a first-time effort that deflected off Federico Fernández and went behind for a Rovers corner.
The subsequent corner, taken by Harrison Reed, gave Ben Brereton the chance to potentially open his account in Blue and White. Although the set-piece didn’t received contact from a Blackburn man, the home side recycled the ball back out to Reed, whose cross met Brereton’s head, however despite the former Nottingham Forest man heading wide, referee Lee Probert awarded Newcastle a free-kick for a foul by the teenager on Longstaff.
Benítez’s side soon doubled their lead on the 22nd minute, through another of their homegrown youngsters, Callum Roberts. Murphy managed to marginally evade being stopped for offside, as he got on the end of Joselu’s flick-on from Freddie Woodman’s clearance. The former Norwich City winger took the ball into his stride and stormed towards goal before forcing David Raya into another strong save. Despite having Ryan Nyambe up with him, Murphy regained the ball after Raya’s parry, which allowed the winger to twist and turn the Rovers defender, before putting in a waist-height cross, that Roberts coolly diverted home with the inside of his right-foot, to double his side’s lead to 2-0.
After play was restarted, Newcastle continued their pressure earning a couple of corners that led to nothing, however with the next goal of the game being crucial, it was Rovers who reduced the deficit, rather that Newcastle extending their lead, as self-confessed Toon supporter, Adam Armstrong got one back for Tony Mowbray’s side, on the 32nd minute, after some brilliant centre-forward play by Danny Graham allowed for Armstrong the space to find the net. A lofted diagonal ball by Travis saw Graham’s first touch bring the ball down well on his chest, before his second touch slipped Armstrong through, in behind Fernández, allowing the Geordie forward poked the ball through the legs of onrushing ‘keeper Freddie Woodman to reduce the arrears to 2-1.
With Rovers moving in control of the game, they nearly managed to draw things level, only 3 minutes after Armstrong’s goal, through Darragh Lenihan’s header. Harrison Reed again took a corner, which this time was fully lofted into the box. The cross was met by the head of the Lenihan, who jumped up for the ball with Graham, however Lenihan’s couldn’t guide his nod towards goal, as Newcastle were awarded a goal-kick.
On the 37th minute, Murphy tried to play Joselu through, however Raya was alert to the danger as he came out to smother the ball and relieve the pressure.
After 42 minutes, Newcastle gained themselves a corner after Murphy’s shot deflected behind off Bell. The subsequent corner taken by Richie, caused some havoc within the Rovers box, before being cleared by Graham, allowing Rovers to transfer the pressure from their goal, towards Woodman’s.
As the break loomed, and with only 1 minute of added time called for by Lee Probert, Rovers and Darragh Lenihan soon reshuffled both managers’ team talks with the Irish defender’s equaliser from Reed’s corner. After Longstaff deflected Bell’s cross behind, Reed’s delivered another floated cross into the box which, this time, Lenihan made the most off, as he headered home from just outside the 6-yard box to level the scoring at 2-2, going into half-time.
Soon after the restart, the half called to a close, and the home players were met with a round of applause for their efforts in returning the score back to what it had been at kick-off.
During the half-time break, Tony Mowbray’s emotions would have been mixed as he would have been fuming at the early goal Rovers had conceded, but he would have been equally delighted with their application and desire in grinding out a positive revival and drawing the scores level before the break.
Rafa Benítez, in contrast, would have been frustrated with his side losing the lead with such ease. Despite having the likes of Salomón Rondón and Ayoze Pérez on the bench, Rafa would have been hoping that he wouldn’t need to turn to his first-team players in order to get the job done in the second-half and prevent the possibility of extra-time and penalties.
The second-half was restarted by Rovers, but not before Newcastle could make their first change of the game, which was enforced due to injury. Ciaran Clark departed the field and was replaced by Jamal Lascelles.
Joselu had the first opportunity at trying to find the back of the net from around 30-yards out, but saw his effort fly well wide of the mark.
Richie, on the 51st minute, tried his luck after cutting inside onto his left-foot and unleashing a ferocious effort that nearly ricocheted off the crossbar. Despite protests from the Scottish international for a corner, Lee Probert awarded Rovers a goal-kick.
4 minutes later, Rovers had a corner which again was taken by Reed. Although the corner was close to the ‘keeper, who was being pressured by Lenihan, Woodman did enough to claim the ball comfortably.
It didn’t take long for Lascelles’ time in the game to be cut short, as he was retracted due to a hamstring injury and replaced by Issac Hayden, which saw Fabian Schär drop in at centre-back alongside Fernández.
After over an hour had been played, Murphy and Joselu again combined to try and put Newcastle back into the lead. Murphy’s low cross from the byline fell to Joselu who was lurking outside the 6-yard box, however his poke towards goal ended up going behind for a goal kick.
The 64th minute saw Rovers make their first alteration of the game, as Ben Brereton was withdrawn and replaced by Craig Conway.
Newcastle earnt a corner on the 69th minute, however Hayden’s header ricocheted back off the post, before being cleared.
Rovers made their second change on the 72nd minute, as Adam Armstrong – who received a warm applause from both sets of supporters – was replaced by Joe Nuttall.
6 minutes later, Rovers’ final change was enforced as Harrison Reed departed with injury and was replaced by Bradley Dack.
It took 7 minutes for Dack to make an impact on the game, as on the 85th minute, he hit a half-volley which ran across his body, wide of the mark.
As the full-time whistle drew nearer with the prospect of extra-time looming, Lee Probert added on an extra 3 minutes of added time to the game, in an attempt to try and find a winner.
In the first minute of the added time, Craig Conway saw an effort at goal deflected into the hands of Woodman.
The final act of normal time saw Federico Fernández booked for preventing Raya from launching a quick counter-attack.
Seconds after Raya’s release of the ball, the final whistle was blown which signalled the transfer over into an extra 30 minutes of play.
The first period of extra-time was begun by Rovers, who came out of their pre-kick off briefing with the higher intensity.
In the 92nd minute, Conway’s corner fell to Dack on the edge of the area, whose low shot towards goal was blocked, before being cleared from danger.
A couple of minutes later, Ayoze Pérez was introduced to the game, as he replaced Newcastle’s second goalscorer, Callum Roberts.
With 97 minutes gone, Joe Nuttall nearly put Rovers ahead for the first time in the game, as he connected with Amari’i Bell’s cross. Although the 21-year old forward was coming off the back of a goalscoring run in the under-23s and his first Championship goal, away at Millwall, he couldn’t make it 2 goals in 2 games for the first team, as his header skewed wide of Woodman’s upright.
In compliance with the FA Cup’s regulations, both teams were allowed a fourth substitute in extra-time, which Rovers took advantage of in the 103rd minute, as Joe Rothwell was introduced in place of Richie Smallwood.
On the stroke of half-time in extra-time, Bradley Dack had a golden chance to put Rovers ahead, but somehow, unbelievably managed to scuff his lines from just behind the penalty spot. A free-kick by Raya was hoofed forward into Graham who brought the ball down with his chest. The target-man then lofted the ball into the path of Conway who was making a run ahead of him. The Scot then nodded the ball down into Dack’s path, who was free on the edge of Newcastle’s penalty area. As the ball dropped and Ewood Park held its breath, Dack’s low effort past Woodman, despite having most of the goal at his mercy, was poked wide of the left-hand post, which left Dack, Tony Mowbray and the rest of Ewood Park, with their heads in their respective hands.
After that squandered opportunity, 2 minutes of added time were allocated onto the end of the first-half, as both sides’ search to break the deadlock intensified.
Dack’s squandered opportunity soon came back to haunt him, in the second minute of added time, as Joselu – despite clearly being offside according to both, the television replays and the BT Sport commentary team – managed to loft the ball over a despairing David Raya to put the Geordies ahead. Fabian Schär’s effort from around 30-yards out stung the palms of Raya, who made a meal of the claim as the ball hit his palms and his chest, saw the ball fall to the feet of the offside Joselu. The Spaniard needed no second invitation before chipping the ball over the on-rushing ‘keeper to put his side back ahead at 3-2 and notch his first goal since the 26th August which came in a 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea.
The last kick of the half came from kick-off, as Bradley Dack tried an audacious attempt at trying to catch Freddie Woodman out from the half-way line. With Woodman claiming the ball with consummate ease, Lee Probert instantaneously called an end to the first period of extra-time.
With both managers conducting their team-talks on the pitch, there would have been similar messages being given to both teams.
Tony Mowbray would have been offering some praise to his team alongside some encouragement with him knowing that his team were capable of grabbing a third in order to even up the score and potentially take the game to penalties.
Rafa Benítez, like Tony Mowbray, would have been offering some words of wisdom to his team, however the Spaniard would have been more cautious with his approach, as he would have been calling for them not to concede a third, which could potentially spark a Rovers revival which could further tire his players, despite him having a single change still at his disposal.
There was only a minute of play between Newcastle’s half-time briefing and their fourth goal. After the Toon had kicked-off the half and handed Rovers a free-kick in the process, due to Murphy handling the ball, Benítez’s side managed to clear the lofted cross from deep, away from the box and start a counter-attack through Ritchie, Pérez and Joselu. The latter laid the ball off to the former, who slid Pérez through. Pérez’s perfect positioning inside his own half, which negated offside, allowed him to get on the end of Ritchie’s through ball halfway into Rovers’ half and drive towards goal, whilst blitzing past Rovers’ tired legs, before powering a shot past Raya – who did get a hand to the attempt – into the roof of the net to make it 4-2 and effectively kill the game.
3 minutes after the restart, Newcastle made their final change of the evening as Ritchie departed with Christian Atsu replacing him.
With 110 minutes gone, David Raya did well to keep his composure and deny Joselu from extending Newcastle’s lead further, a cutback by Murphy into Joselu’s path saw Raya produce a strong right-hand to deny the forward.
A minute later, from the second of 2 corners which resulted from Raya’s save, Schär saw his effort from close-range nestle into the side-netting.
As 5 minutes remained on the clock, Raya was again tested by Joselu as the Spanish forward’s shot was well saved by the legs of the Spanish ‘keeper, before the rebound by Atsu was put well wide.
After Darragh Lenihan was announced as the club sponsor’s Man of the Match, and a solitary minute of added time added on, it wasn’t long until the Rovers players and fans were put out of their misery with the final whistle which saw Newcastle head into the 4th round of the cup, to set up a home tie against fellow Premier League side, Watford.
Despite a mammoth effort over the 120 minutes at Ewood Park, which culminated in defeat for Tony Mowbray’s side and their expulsion from the cup, the home side can ultimately be proud of their efforts as they went toe-to-toe over 210 minutes, (including the first tie), against a Premier League side. Although the Geordies came down to Ewood Park with a second-string team who Rovers more than matched, it ultimately took a slice of terrible officiating and the introduction of a Premier League quality player in Ayoze Pérez, to down Rovers’ hopes of advancing to the 4th round. Although the opening 22 minutes were poor from a defensive perspective, the rest of the game, up until Joselu’s goal, was brilliant from Rovers, as the players fought hard to not only come back from a tough deficit, but to keep the Toon at bay throughout the rest of normal time.
With Rovers now dumped out of both cups, Mowbray’s men are now able to concentrate on their league campaign for the remainder of the season. With Rovers in 14th, prior to the Millwall victory and 6 points off the playoffs, Saturday’s game against bottom of the table Ipswich Town at Ewood Park, on 19th January at 3pm will potentially define whether Rovers’ future in the league table lie in the top half, or the bottom half. Once Paul Lambert’s Ipswich depart Ewood, Rovers welcome Nigel Adkins’ Hull City side on the 26th at 3pm, who currently sit 10th in the division, after their dazzling run of 9 league games unbeaten, which include 7 victories. Following Hull’s visit, Rovers make the long trip down to London, to face Brentford at Griffin Park on 2nd February at 3pm, who are enjoying an unbeaten run of 5 league games.
