With Rovers achieving a huge 2-0 victory away at The New Den, against Millwall, which aired live on Sky Sports, Tony Mowbray spoke to the club’s media team as he lauded his players after they reaped the rewards their efforts deserved.
“The last 5 minutes of the game was out of context really, with (Adam) Armstrong coming on and lightening the tie up. We got our rewards today for the hard work and endeavour we put in throughout the game, but it’s really difficult to come here because they don’t let you play football, they keep putting the ball in your box, they keep it in the corner and they test you physically with their aerial threats and it was really difficult for the players today. At half-time, I felt that it was probably the worst game I’ve seen in a long time; however, we’re stood here with 2-0 to Blackburn Rovers written in the history books, which is all that matters to me now. Our focus now switches onto Newcastle United on Tuesday in the FA Cup 3rd round replay.
“We needed to soak up the pressure defensively and be clinical when the chances came, which eventually happened. I thought (Darragh) Lenihan was immense tonight as was (Jack) Rodwell, who complimented Darragh well. In my eyes, Darragh took the lead tonight whereas when he’s usually alongside Charlie (Mulgrew), Charlie’s the one who takes the lead out of them both. Lenihan was a real man today who wanted to head every ball that came into our box and I’m delighted for him.
“The balance of the team was good and it’s so pleasing to have kept a clean sheet here, because their recent record of 4 games unbeaten, shows they have the ability to put the ball in the back of your net. This victory, coupled with the clean sheet, will give us confidence going forwards, which is pleasing. We’ve got Hull City coming up soon, who are in a similar position to Millwall, having won their last 6 games on the bounce, which will provide us with another good test, much like today did. The most immediate test for us however, is Newcastle on Tuesday, followed by Ipswich Town and then we play Hull, but they’re 3 home games on the bounce and given our decent home record, hopefully we can win them all before assessing how we are in terms of the league.
“It’s always good to have such quality on the bench such as Danny Graham, or Adam Armstrong, but when you tell them they’re not playing they get frustrated, which is natural, yet the overall aim is for the squad to be successful, not the individual. I thought Joe Nuttall today worked like a trojan today, he gave their centre-backs a real problem, because they wouldn’t have expected such a big lad running around, challenging for headers and chasing in behind, which made their defenders rethink their strategies. He got his rewards for his tireless efforts with his goal, if it’s going to be given to him and I’m delighted for him. As well as Joe, however, we’ve got Danny who can come on and mess the centre-backs around with his physicality and his ability to hold up the ball. I’m also delighted that Adam has got himself a goal. He played more centrally when he came on today, as opposed to on the left-hand side, which is where I usually play him. He’s very good at taking the ball and running at and away from people, yet it’s very difficult to play him down the middle, because we’ve got Bradley (Dack) in that position, who can also do what Adam does. Overall, I’m delighted with the result and the impact that the substitutes had, we now need to concentrate on resting up and preparing for Tuesday night in the hope that we can get another result.
“Regarding Joe, I’d probably estimate that I’ve had about 20 teams on the phone to me asking about his availability on loan. I think, however, after his hot streak of goals last season, he hit a barren spell because he wasn’t working hard enough in terms of running in behind, which is what I think he’s best at. He tried playing more as a target man who came towards the ball which I thought caused his work-rate to drop, however, he might disagree with that claim, but that’s what I believed at the time. Damien Johnson, (Under-23s Manager), is the one who has worked with him and Damien’s been able to rebuild Joe’s confidence, which he deserved a lot of credit for, as he’s helped Joe get back to a level where I can trust him in the first-team. Hopefully we can reject all the loan offers, because he’ll want to stay and try to stake a claim to get ahead of Danny. If he replicates today’s performance, I’m happy to leave Danny behind me on the bench and use him as an impact sub in order to let Joe have the shirt.
“Adam is at his best when he’s running in behind and getting in on goal. In fairness to him, I haven’t been using him in his natural role as a centre-forward, because I’ve had him out on the left. Although he can do the damage we want from him on the left, he wants to play down the middle, however he’s only a baby at 21-years old and this is a man’s league. I’m sure that, in a couple of years’ time, Adam will be banging in goals for this club as it’s number 9, down the middle as he terrorises people with his pace and power. At the moment, he’s doing a great job in a team with a different balance to the one we’re eventually going to reach.
“We have to now keep going as a group. We talked, pre-match, about winning today, then having Ipswich and Hull at home, which if we win the next couple, will let us reassess where we are in the league and will give us an idea of whether we can really push towards the top 6. If you think of the fixtures we’ve had, we’ve played just about all of the current top 6, bar Norwich City, away from home, so our run-in won’t be the worst in the world. We just have to look at our opposition and assess where we’re going to get 3 points from.”
