After his side had to settle for a replay, despite coming within minutes of advancing into the FA Cup 4th round, Tony Mowbray had nothing but praise, as he spoke to the club’s media team, for both, his players and the supporters, as Rovers displayed their talents during their 1-1 draw in the 3rd round, against a weakened Newcastle United side.
“For the effort and desire of the team tonight, I think the replay was the least that we deserved. We came to a stadium packed with around 36,000 people and competed with a Premier League side, in Newcastle United. It was a great atmosphere to come and play football in, and our team rose to the occasion, but the overall performance shouldn’t be surprising, because the lads put in similar performances against Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield United and Norwich City. I said to the team after the game that I was amazed with their desire, togetherness and commitment and they have to keep producing that, of course. We’ll try and help them along the way if we can add a couple of fresh faces, but it’s no surprise to me that the lads can keep going and continue to find the levels of intensity needed to play against a Premier League side.
“We talked, before the game, about taking the game to them and attacking them. We didn’t know how Newcastle were going to play, because they’ve been playing 3-4-3 for the past 7 games in the Premier League, but we knew they wouldn’t be defensive against us because they were up against a team who had recently come out of League 1, so they had to be attack minded, yet I thought we matched them and got in their faces, but we’re ultimately disappointed to have not won the game.
“It’s good for Bradley (Dack) that he’s scoring headers, to be honest. I thought he should have buried one in the first-half, off Charlie’s (Mulgrew) corner, but he seemed to take his eye off it. He leapt like a salmon for his goal and finished off a great move with a great bullet header. He’s showing the world that he can score with both of his feet and his head, which shows how talented he is, but he has to remain fit and healthy whilst also being able to enjoy his football. I’ve talked to Brad about his physicality and his lifestyle, because it’s important for him to watch how he lives his life. Although there’s a perception of him from the outside, that he’s maybe carrying a bit of weight, he wouldn’t be able to hold off defenders and swivel his hips as quickly as he does, as if he was a skinny and scrawny boy, he wouldn’t be able to do that.
“It wasn’t just Bradley who put in a brilliant performance, I thought all of the boys were amazing tonight. Young (Lewis) Travis again today showed his quality against Premier League opposition. He was everywhere, brave with the ball and wasn’t afraid of putting a tackle in. I thought we were solid defensively with Mulgrew and (Darragh) Lenihan, who dealt with a lot of forward passes and aerial balls. (Elliott) Bennett always amazes me, because even when I slip him in at right-back, he puts in an amazing effort. (Craig) Conway again had a good shift, especially as he has only recently returned from injury and I thought Danny Graham used his physicality to mess their centre-halves around and create spaces for runners. Overall, tonight’s performance was a good one, which I enjoyed watching.
“Their penalty was a soft one in my view, but we have to accept it, due to the fact that they would have had it checked using VAR, (Video Assistant Referee). We have to take it on the chin, however I’ve talked to Corry (Evans) about it and after watching it back, I think we were a bit unlucky because Bennett made a tackle, which caused the ball to ricochet back off Corry and into their lad’s path, (Ayoze Pérez). I think, had Corry not been there, Bennett’s tackle would have been enough, however Corry’s tried to make amends by trying to poke the ball away and their lad has just gone over his foot.
“The lads then came through some testing moments, and Charlie’s come out of the game with a knock. He’s struggling a bit in the dressing room, but I thought he was magnificent tonight. He was putting in some sublime set-pieces, yet he was also dealing with a lot of aerial stuff defensively. That’s the fifth game in around 15 days for them now, so they’ve been given a couple of days off in order to recover from some knocks, because the effort they’ve put in, against the top 4 teams in our division and Newcastle United away from home, has been amazing.
“The away fans were amazing. I had to take a second look to see whether all our fans had made the journey up from Blackburn, because the whole section at the top was full. I’ve said it since my first match away at Burton Albion, where they filled the stand behind the goal, the away following at this club is amazing, so I don’t get surprised anymore when I hear that nearly 3,000 people came up here to support us, because they’re a brilliant fanbase who make a lot of noise and are always behind the lads. Hopefully they enjoyed tonight and although they might be disappointed, much like the team are, that we’ve conceded another late goal, they’ll know that it wasn’t something Newcastle directly created. We weren’t being forced back necessarily or hanging on for dear life, like we have been recently, which is somewhat pleasing.
“The overall performance was a good, steady one. We’ve talked about losing late goals and losing goals in quick succession to lose sight of the opposition and I think, hopefully, we’ve put that problem to bed, as was the case against West Brom. We now need to move forward with the same belief, desire and effort as we keep working hard for each other.
“In the replay at Ewood Park, I think having a bumper crowd would be amazing for the team, because, as I’ve mentioned previously, I think the team deserve a support base that is numerically behind them, such is the case at the likes of Leeds and Sheffield United, where you can feel the ball being sucked into the net. I think these players deserve some real support, however that’s not a criticism of the people who come to Ewood, because they have been fantastic and it’s amazing, on occasions, how they can lift the team, I’m just looking at it in terms of numbers. Newcastle will probably bring 7,000-8,000 people and fill the whole end, so I’d like to think that our supporters would be able to match that and make it a fantastic night, a night where we can hopefully get the result we all want.”
