Following Rovers’ excellent 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, which saw the Blues extend their winning run to 3 games, Tony Mowbray reflected on a positive away result with the club’s media team.
“I think we deserved the victory and the points today. We got control of the ball early on and we threatened them and posed lots of questions to their defence. In the first-half, I thought we had lots of good opportunities which came by getting in behind them through the frontline of Adam (Armstrong), Bradley (Dack), Joe (Rothwell) and Danny (Graham), who all displayed their individual qualities and were a collective thorn in their side today. I think we ultimately deserved to win, even though we made things difficult for ourselves during the final 6 or 7 minutes of added time, but that’s okay, because there will be a time, in future games, where you have your back against the wall and your team needs to come out and throw their bodies on the line in order to get the ball out the box, and we managed to do that in order to get the victory.
“The fact that we make things hard for ourselves at the end, due to not killing games off, doesn’t surprise me after the run we’ve had. How many times have I spoke in interviews after a 1-0 defeat lamenting, ‘the final pass’, ‘the final cutback’ or ‘the poor finish’? It’s what we work really hard on in training every day, but it’ll eventually come together, because we’re getting into some great areas and Graham is a brilliant finisher as seen by his penalty today, as is Dack who got his goal by arriving into the 6-yard box to finish. It’s just important that the players understand how the ball works to one area of the pitch and then they have to converse between the sticks to have bodies arrive into the area in order to score goals, and sometimes we’ve had a brilliant ball into the box, and yet it’s come to nothing because we’ve only had 1 man in the box surrounded by 4 defenders, whereas in recent weeks, I think we’ve had more men in the box and that’s ultimately affected the results in a positive manner.
“We had some really good individual performances today, but the backline was solid, even though I know we didn’t keep a clean sheet. Ever since January, we’ve struggled to stop teams who were being direct against us and I think (Darragh) Lenihan and (Derrick) Williams have grown in stature and into their roles as they play a bit part in helping us stop the direct balls by heading the ball away from goal, which allows us to get the ball out to our forward players in order to win matches. I think, although they’ve played well as a pair, they’ve stumbled into the side alongside each other at centre-half due to the injuries and suspension we’ve had, and as a player you need to grab your opportunity when it comes and I think Darragh, who came back from his 8 week injury and Derrick, who came back after having a run out of the side, have shown their quality and have managed to stake a claim in the team. Darragh in particular has shown the power and aggression that was on display earlier on in the season and he’s devastated in the dressing room that we haven’t kept a clean sheet, which is the correct mentality to have as a defender.
“Lewis Travis’ performance today was alright, and yet I gave him a bit of stick at half-time. I think he has to grown physically, which is due to him still being a boy at 21. I thought (Jordan) Cousins, before he unfortunately came off injured, gave Trav a lot of physical problems today, but his work-rate and his desire for the team to win is fantastic. His ability to stay with the ball at times is good, yet he has to develop his awareness of his surroundings and play the ball a bit quicker, but the fact I’m picking him at the moment tells him that he’s doing something right and I’m delighted for him. His burst forward to win the penalty was good, and yet the game dictates how much control we have of the ball and dictates whether or not as a midfielder, he can push on or not. Football is becoming more and more about positional play and if we have control of the game, and we’re playing through the lines with Dack or Rothwell picking up the pockets and they get to turn, Lewis is allowed to burst forward and join the attack which is what he did today to earn the penalty which led to the goal I thought we deserved, because we were the better team at that moment in time and were dominating the play.
“It’s good that we’ve come here and won, because they had their tails up following their 4-0 win over Swansea City in their last game, and yet I thought we came to a buoyant Loftus Road and put in a professional performance, as we executed our gameplan successfully. I think our recent run of form has coincided with the return of Lenihan, who came back in the 2-1 defeat away at Aston Villa. Although we lost a couple of goals that day, the overall performance of the team was a good one and I thought, at the time, it was a game where we could snatch something, which we nearly did during the last half-an-hour of the game. As I’ve mentioned, Lenihan’s personality is quite amazing really as you’d think we’d been beaten today judging by his angry reaction at losing the clean sheet in the dressing room and yet that’s the mentality you need from all the players. The most important thing is securing the clean sheet, then you can allow your Dacks, Grahams, Armstrongs and Rothwells to play with freedom, whilst the other 7 players focus on keeping the ball out of their own net, whilst also giving the forwards the ammunition to win matches.”
To summarise the interview, the manager offered his thoughts on Rovers’ next game, which is a Lancashire derby against already-relegated rivals, Bolton Wanderers.
“There are no easy games in this league, regardless of the fact that Bolton are already down. I’m sure the relegation and the fact it’s a local derby, will galvanise their group. Of course, they’ll be hugely disappointed, but footballers are footballers, and as soon as they put their boots on, they have to go and perform for their supporters no matter the situation. I’m sure their fans will travel in their numbers, as it’s such a short journey, which will put pressure on their players to perform, meaning we will have to be ready for that and our fans will expect us to get another victory at home and we’ll have to play our game and work really hard in order to break them down and get the victory.”
