A lively start by Rovers ultimately ended in defeat as Slaven Bilić’s Baggies ran riot at The Hawthorns to hand Rovers their third defeat of the campaign, despite Rovers having an equaliser controversially chalked off.
With Tony Mowbray naming his final teamsheet before the first international break of the campaign, there were two changes from the side that drew 0-0 with Cardiff City, a week ago. Greg Cunningham and Adam Armstrong came in for Amari’i Bell and Danny Graham, the latter of whom dropped to the bench.
The kick-off by West Brom led to a disastrous start for the hosts as Rovers managed to edge themselves ahead with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Lewis Travis’s pressure saw Romaine Sawyers falter as he conceded possession to the Rovers midfielder, who laid the ball off to Bradley Dack, inside the box which gave the playmaker the simple task of slotting beyond the lethargic Sam Johnstone to put Rovers 1-0 virtually from kick-off and grab his first of the campaign.
The explosive start petered out until the 16th minute when Grady Diangana tried his luck from 25-yards out but was well denied by Rovers shot-stopper, Christian Walton.
Moments later, Bradley Johnson tried his luck from a similar distance to Diangana, but unlike the on-loan Albion midfielder, Johnson’s shot was blocked.
On the 21st minute, West Brom nearly got themselves an equaliser as Lenihan’s clearance ricocheted off former Burnley forward Charlie Austin before skimming the top of the crossbar.
A minute later, the equaliser became reality after a Rovers defensive mix-up allowed for Matty Phillips to celebrate his new contract with West Brom, with his second of the season. The ball was seemingly within Cunningham’s control as he attempted to shepherd the ball back to Walton who was not on the same wavelength as his left-back. Although Cunningham did well, Walton failed to come out and claim the loose ball which allowed Phillips to show his strength as he got the better of Cunningham, despite calls for a foul form the visitors, before slotting past Walton to equalise at 1-1.
The home side soon moved into a spell of dominance, starting in the 25th minute. Darnell Furlong’s cross from the byline fell to the head of Matheus Pereira, who failed to keep his nodded effort on target as Rovers were awarded a goal-kick.
Moments later, Phillips saw his header denied by Walton before Rovers sprung a counter-attack that saw Sam Gallagher’s shot blocked.
Although Rovers managed to get some breathing room with Gallagher’s half-chance, the misery from the first Albion goal continued as the hosts grabbed a second after half-an-hour. Furlong beat Armstrong for pace, before cutting it back to Phillips. The first goalscorer then wasted no time in delivering a wayward cross that fell back into the path of a West Brom man, off the bar. Albion soon used the technique within their squad to work the ball out to Jake Livermore who found the back of the net from just inside the penalty area, in order to double his side’s advantage at 2-1.
West Brom weren’t letting Rovers off easily and were desperate to make them pay for taking an early lead. From the restart, Albion again gained possession of the ball as a low cross saw Austin connect from close-range, but unfortunately for Slaven Bilić’s side, Austin failed to keep his effort down.
A two-goal cushion was soon created by the hosts as they eventually made Rovers pay by grabbing a third that seemingly looked to have killed the contest off. Some dallying on the ball by Darragh Lenihan saw Diangana take advantage and use his pace to get beyond the centre-back. Despite Lenihan’s best efforts to hack the on-loan West Ham United midfielder down, Diangana managed to speed away from the Republic of Ireland international and cleverly dink the ball over the on-rushing Walton to make it 3-1.
Before play was restarted, Lenihan was shown the game’s first booking, following his attempts at trying to foul Diangana in the goal’s build-up.
Referee Tony Harrington soon added on three minutes to the end of the first period, which gave Rovers some hope in trying to find a goal that would allow them to go into the half-time break with some positives to look back upon.
In the first minute of the added time, that soon became a reality as Bradley Johnson notched his first legitimate goal for the club – after his attempt against Charlton Athletic on the opening day was classed as an own-goal – in order to reduce to arrears and make it 3-2. Stewart Downing’s free-kick was nodded towards goal by Lenihan, which forced Johnstone to parry the ball back into the danger zone which gave Johnson the opportunity to poke home from mere yards.
The Albion kick-off didn’t allow for the home side to create another opportunity as the half-time whistle was blown soon after.
With half-time in full flow, there would have been mixed feelings in both dressing rooms following the events of the first period.
Slaven Bilić would have been pleased with how his side reacted after conceding such an early goal, however the Croat would have been fuming that his side had failed to keep their concentration up until the whistle, by allowing Rovers a potential route back into the game.
Tony Mowbray, on the other hand, would have been feeling more frustration than happiness after watching his side nearly collapse inside the space of 18 minutes. Although the day had seemingly started off perfectly with Dack’s first of the season, the defensive issues from last season had seemingly resurfaced which gave Mowbray and the 1,333 Rovers fans things to worry about.
When the teams returned for the second-half, Rovers returned having made a double substitution in order to try and change their approach. Bradley Johnson and Sam Gallagher were taken off and replaced by John Buckley and Joe Rothwell as Bradley Dack was pushed forward as the lone striker, with Rothwell filling in, behind the goalscorer.
The 51st minute saw Rovers earn a corner that was cleared, before they managed to regain the ball and have a penalty appeal waved away by Tony Harrington. Despite Barkley seemingly impeding Dack, play was allowed to continue despite murmurs of discontent from the away end.
Rovers’ misery was soon compounded on the 56th minute when they thought they managed to grab their equaliser, only to see it cruelly chalked off. Downing’s cross bounced off Semi Ajayi before hitting the crossbar and coming back into play. With the ball hanging in the air, Lenihan, Dack and Johnstone all leaped to try and make contact, with Dack emerging as the victor with the ball falling into the back of the net as a result. Although the Rovers players and fans were elated, Harrington the referee, was not as he blew for a foul on Dack, despite replays indicating it was a fair challenge.
On the 65th minute, Rovers had a counter-attack after Livermore had his attempt blocked by Elliott Bennett. Adam Armstrong picked up the ball and raced towards the Albion net, but was stopped in his tracks by Nathan Ferguson who was shown a yellow card for his troubles.
From the resulting free-kick, Rovers again had their heads in their hands after hitting the post once again. A well-executed ‘training ground’ free-kick, saw Dack slide the ball into Downing, who hit a curling effort from just inside the area. Although the everything was right, the ball ended up clipping the post and going behind as Rovers’ search for the equaliser continued.
The 67th minute saw West Brom make their first change of the game as Charlie Austin was withdrawn with Kenneth Zohore replacing him. Whilst the Albion substitution was occurring, Travis was booked for a previous incident that the referee had played advantage for.
Another West Brom breakaway on the 71st minute saw the bar cleared. Diangana’s cross found Pereira who couldn’t keep his effort down.
That contribution proved to be Diangana’s last of the game, as he left the field to a standing ovation before being replaced by on-loan Benfica playmaker, Filip Krovinović.
A minute later, Rovers’ final change of the game was made as Adam Armstrong departed, allowing for the introduction of Danny Graham.
Matheus Pereira became the second Albion player to fall into the referee’s book for descent after he kicked the ball away in an attempt to waste time, during a stoppage.
After another quiet spell towards the end of the game, Krovinović tried his luck from range in the 84th minute but saw his shot skew wide of the target.
From the goal-kick, Rovers built-up play with Elliott Bennett eventually putting in a deep cross which Greg Cunningham connected with. Although the effort was a good one, the header, which was nodded down into the ground, proved to be easy pickings for Johnstone, who collected with ease.
A John Buckley mistake gave Phillips the chance to extend Albion’s lead, but saw his effort well blocked by Lenihan’s desperate defending.
The final change from the hosts saw Matheus Pereira depart, with Kyle Edwards replacing him.
Moving into the final few moments of the game, defender Kyle Bartley had a chance to seal the game and relieve the pressure off his side heading into added time. A deep cross came in and despite Barkley being free, he lacked the composure of his teammates as he spooned his effort behind for a goal-kick.
After five minutes of added time was added on, the final chance of the game fell to Krovinović whose effort from close-range was ballooned over the bar. Whilst there was still four minutes of the game remaining, neither side was able to make a final impact on the game, as Rovers bowed to their first league defeat in three games.
Whilst there would always be disappointment after a defeat, especially one where Rovers had taken the lead, there are positives that can be taken from this game, one being the chances that were created during the second-half, which should have seen Mowbray’s men draw level. Although the defensive improvement has seemingly taken a hit with this defeat, the attacking force within West Brom’s squad will undoubtedly cause the best teams in this division problems, so it shouldn’t be an issue that the fans or the manager should dwell on too much.
Looking at the league table, Rovers are now 17th after 6 games, with 7 points and a -2-goal difference, heading into the first international break of the campaign.
After the aforementioned international break, Rovers move into a more lenient September, in comparison to the strenuous August they had just participated in. Once the break is complete, Rovers are back in action at Ewood Park on Saturday 14th September at 3pm where they host Neil Harris’s Millwall. Once Millwall return back to London, Rovers make the long journey down to the Madejski Stadium to face Reading on Saturday 21st September at 3pm in an attempt to gain their first win in Berkshire since February 2014. Their final game of the month sees newly-promoted Luton Town visit Ewood Park on Saturday 28th September at 3pm, as Rovers look to make amends after their opening day defeat to Charlton Athletic, by beating a former League One side.
