Rovers made it back-to-back victories and back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since January 2019, as Hull City paid the price for their missed first-half penalty, which allowed Rovers to take the game by the scruff of the neck and produce an encouraging performance.
Tony Mowbray’s teamsheet that came through at the KCOM Stadium only saw a solitary change to the side that got the victory against Middlesbrough, at the weekend. Saturday’s scorer Danny Graham dropped out of the starting side and was replaced by Adam Armstrong, who caused Hull City problems in both fixtures last season.
With the Rovers fans placed in behind Christian Walton’s goal for the first 45 minutes, it was Rovers who got the game underway ahead of the Sky Sports cameras in the hope that they could continue their fine performance, from a few days prior at home to Middlesbrough, in order to make it back-to-back victories.
The game started quietly with possession being turned over wastefully, until the 9th minute, where the first half-chance appeared. Greg Cunningham’s deep cross was aimed more towards the back-post, rather than towards a man which left Hull City ‘keeper George Long scrambling to top it over the bar, to give Rovers the first corner of the game.
The resulting corner as the clock ticked over to the 10th minute, was poorly cleared by Hull, up into the air, before it dropped to Bradley Johnson whose nod towards goal edged wide, after skimming the crossbar.
Disaster soon struck for those in Blue and White. Only a few minutes after hitting the woodwork, Johnson upended Hull captain Jackson Irvine in the box with a clumsy lunge, that gave referee Rob Jones no option other than to point to the spot on the 12th minute. Thankfully for Rovers, however, they had a confident goalkeeper between the sticks in Walton, who after having a dance on his line to put Jarrod Bowen off, dived to his left-hand side and parried Hull’s talisman’s penalty away to keep it 0-0, before the Rovers backline cleared the danger.
Bradley Johnson became the heartbeat of Rovers’ attacking play pretty quickly, as he saw another chance denied by the woodwork, only 4 minutes after the penalty decision. Cunningham again showed his quality from the left-hand side with a cross that was flicked towards goal by the former Norwich City and Derby County man, but again, Johnson’s luck was missing as the ball flew over the bar via the crossbar.
Minutes later, Hull came forwards with Stephen Kingsley who combined with Daniel Batty to give the latter an attempt at goal. Whilst the cutback was a clever one, Batty’s finish was not as his strike from range ballooned over the crossbar.
As the 22nd minute came, so did an Adam Armstrong opportunity, as the pacey hitman was played through in behind the sleepy Hull defence. Although the through ball into the forward was a good one, the City ‘keeper George Long was quick enough off his line to put Armstrong off, before ultimately smothering the ball following Armstrong’s second attempt.
Hull’s counter-attack was beginning to trouble Rovers, which showed on the 24th minute as an end-to-end period opened up the game. Kamil Grosicki showed his quality that has seen him last so long internationally for Poland as he skipped past Elliott Bennett, before picking out Irvine with a low ball. The pace of the ball and the defensive positioning of Rovers forced the Australian international into a first-time effort, which he narrowly skewered wide of the front post.
After half-an-hour, Grosicki again had two chances in a matter of moments to put his side ahead. The Pole’s first effort was walloped off the near-post, before he curled the returning ball wide of the far-post, much to Walton’s relief.
The first booking of the game fell to Kristen Stewart on the 38th minute after the former Liverpool midfielder handled the ball on halfway.
Rovers soon hit the woodwork again on the 39th minute, as arguably their best chance of the half flashed before their eyes. Dack’s strength and awareness on the ball allowed him to threat it into an unmarked Stewart Downing, who managed to steady himself before striking low with his weaker right-foot, towards the far stick. Whilst the move and execution were seemingly faultless, the end product caused momentary excitement in the away end as the ball crashed back off the post before being cleared.
The 43rd minute arrived with a hattrick of woodwork hits, as Bradley Johnson again struck the bar with a dipping first-time effort. A counter by Rovers saw Downing play the ball into the incoming midfielder who wasted no time in striking an effort that had seemingly caught the ‘keeper Long out, however the woodwork stood firm to again deny Rovers’ second summer recruit.
How the half ended goalless was unknown as it was soon ended by official Rob Jones after one minute of added time, with the scores level at 0-0.
Home manager, Grant McCann would have had mixed emotion considering his side had missed a penalty and hit the post on a number of occasions, however he would have encouraging his team to put their home advantage into practice and not get too down about the penalty miss.
Rovers boss Tony Mowbray’s mood at half-time wouldn’t have been too dissimilar to his counterpart, however he would have arguably been more satisfied with his team’s performance, due to the fact the Hull penalty had been missed. Taking the penalty out of equation however, Mowbray would have been disappointed with how his side lacked the cutting edge required to cut open Hull’s fragile-looking defence.
After the teams returned for the second-half, it was Hull who started the period and crafted it’s first chance through Grosicki, however the Pole’s effort was well blocked and cleared by Derrick Williams.
The 49th minute presented Sam Gallagher with a brilliant chance to re-open his account for the club after sealing his return in the summer. Armstrong’s deep cross fell perfectly for Gallagher to try his luck from close range, however the wide target man decided to try and cushion the ball back into the path of Bradley Dack, who was not on the same wavelength, rather than try for goal, which led to a Hull clearance.
Hull forward, Tom Eaves soon fell into the referee’s book for a late foul on Bradley Johnson on the 53rd minute.
Gallagher again had an opportunity crafted for him on the 58th minute, but this time went for goal. Stewart Downing’s free-kick was whipped in, after Dack was fouled on the attack, yet despite connecting with the ball positively, Gallagher was comfortably denied by the spirited Long between the sticks.
On the hour mark, Batty had another chance to push the tie in his side’s favour after he dispossessed Johnson outside the Rovers box. Luckily for the summer recruit, his blushes were spared yet again with Batty firing wide of the mark.
Stephen Kingsley became the third Hull player to receive a booking, after Stewart and Eaves, as the former Swansea City left-back hacked down Gallagher in the wide areas, as Rovers were awarded a free-kick that was almost like a corner.
The set-piece proved profitable for the Blues as an expert delivery led to the deadlock being broken on the 62nd minute. Downing’s quick delivery harmonised with Williams’ leap as the defender managed to make connection on it, in order to guide it into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal and send the Rovers fans who were behind the goal, wild. Despite some pictures indicating a potential foul on ‘keeper Long by Armstrong, no Hull players appealed for the goal to be chalked off, as the Rovers players wheeled away in celebration of their 1-0 advantage.
In retaliation to the goal, Tony Mowbray initiated a straight swap in the attacking department, as Sam Gallagher was replaced by Danny Graham, for the final 25 minutes.
Soon after Graham’s introduction, Hull thought they had crafted a chance for the equaliser as star man Jarrod Bowen danced past the Rovers defenders and made it into the six-yard box. Luckily for Rovers, both Lewis Travis and Derrick Williams had enough in the tank to catch the forward, with Travis executing a pinpoint sliding challenge to poke the ball out from underneath the feet of the attacker, before he could cause any damage to Rovers’ lead.
The 67th minute saw a double change from Hull City as Daniel Batty and Tom Eaves were withdrawn and replaced by on-loan winger Josh Bowler and former Bolton Wanderers striker, Josh Magennis.
The game rumbled on with little action, until the next set of changes were made on the 73rd minute. For the home side, defender Robbie McKenzie was taken off and replaced by rapid winger, Leonardo Da Silva Lopes, who Grant McCann had coached during his time as Peterborough manager. The away side also made a change of their own with Bradley Dack, who had received treatment for a clash of knees during a bad tackle earlier on in the half, being replaced by Joe Rothwell.
On the 75th minute, George Long had to make two saves in quick succession. The first came from a long-range Stewart Downing effort, that realistically was never troubling the shot-stopper. The second, however, proved a little trickier. Greg Cunningham steamrolled forwards from left-back, skipping past all incoming challenges in an almost Messi-esque run, before his lofted left-footed effort was put behind for a corner by Long, which Hull frantically cleared.
The 79th and 80th minutes saw yellow cards galore, as Josh Bowler and Darragh Lenihan were both booked for separate incidents. Bowler had hauled down Cunningham, whilst Lenihan had gone through the back of Magennis.
Bradley Johnson yet again had an opportunity on the 85th minute, but the ball, which had sat up invitingly for the midfielder, was skewed wide.
Seconds before 5 minutes of added time were called for, Da Silva Lopes had an effort from close range that sent a shockwave round Rovers’ defensive unit. The young winger managed to sneak in at the far-post, getting on the end of Grosicki’s cross, but the Portuguese winger lacked the composure to level the score at the death.
Rovers’ final change came in the 91st minute as Adam Armstrong departed and was replaced by John Buckley.
The 92nd minute saw controversy, in Hull City eyes, as Josh Bowler saw his claim for a late penalty waved away by referee Rob Jones. A long ball into the box, from centre-back, saw the ball bounce awkwardly over Derrick Williams and into a position for Bowler to potentially control. Greg Cunningham on the other hand, decided to jump and see if he could win the header, which he failed to do, leading to Bowler clattering into the full-back and sending both men crashing down to the floor, before Walton claimed the loose ball. Despite heavy appeals from both those in orange on the field and those in the home dugout, play was waved on.
The late drama did not stop there, however. On the 95th minute, Grosicki got himself out on the left-hand side and slid in a weighted ball into the feet of Bowen who was just outside the six-yard box. The winger, who was looking to redeem himself late on after his missed penalty, took the effort first time, but didn’t account for Derrick Williams to appear in-front of him, as the Republic of Ireland international delivered an expert tackle that saw the ball bounce off his backside and out for a throw-in.
Despite Stewart Downing being awarded a richly deserved Man of the Match award by Sky Sports, the night ultimately belonged to Derrick Williams, who recently became a father for the first time, as his first goal since 26th August 2017 (at home to MK Dons in League One), combined with his last-ditch block sealed the points and back-to-back victories for Rovers on a night, which could have so easily spun out of control.
Back-to-back wins. Back-to-back clean sheets. First victory on the road. Sounds satisfying doesn’t it? Well the performance got the result it merited, albeit with a slice of luck from the penalty save and the goal not being ruled out for potential infringement. Besides that, Rovers proved tonight why they had such lofty ambitions and why the manager had challenged the side to go on and achieve great things during the season, but of course it’s still incredibly early to nail on a title challenge(!) Although, like every team at this stage in the season, there were still some glaring weaknesses to address, such as the potential issue at full-back with Elliott Bennett not naturally being a defender, the adjustment of the defence once Tosin Adarabioyo returns and the age old question of Danny Graham’s place in the side, the team functioned well, only four days after battling for the victory at Ewood Park against a Middlesbrough side, who tonight picked up their first victory under Jonathan Woodgate at home to Wigan Athletic.
Enough about Boro, though. Some have been comparing this start to the season with the start Rovers had two seasons ago, in League One, where defeats away at Southend United and at home to Doncaster Rovers, (2-1 and 3-1 respectively), kickstarted Rovers into an 18-game unbeaten run as they stormed to an instant return to the Sky Bet Championship. Whilst that, of course, is a bit too ambitious given the quality of the sides in this division, there could be a point made regarding confidence – and consistency in the side – leads to positive results, but only time can tell.
The league table is looking a lot healthier with 6 points added to it, following the past couple of games. With games still to be played tomorrow, (Wednesday), of course, the current standings place Rovers in 10th with 6 points from their opening 4 league games, which include a -1 goal-difference, something which will hopefully improve as the team gel together.
‘The games come thick and fast’ is how the Championship is always described to outsiders coupled with the cup competitions, and that couldn’t be truer for Rovers’ fixture list. Tony Mowbray’s men only get a three-day rest before they’re back in action on Saturday 24th August at 3pm, as they host recently-relegated Cardiff City. Soon after, this time next week (27th August), Rovers return to Yorkshire to play in the Carabao Cup Second Round, away at Sheffield United, at 7:45pm. Once Rovers figure out their fate in the League Cup, they hop back on the coach to travel to the Midlands on Saturday 31st August as they visit The Hawthorns to take on Slaven Bilić’s West Bromwich Albion at 3pm.
