The miserable weather on offer at Ewood Park was not the only disheartening factor about Saturday afternoon’s tie with Luton Town as Rovers’ performance matched that of the conditions as, despite a ray of sunshine coming through the clouds of disappointment in the form of Lewis Travis’ first goal at Ewood Park, Rovers were unable to see September out with a 100% record, with the newly-promoted Hatters emerging as surprise 2-1 victors.
With the team coming into this game in good form, there was only one change to the starting side that managed to leave the Madejski Stadium last week with all three points. Corry Evans dropped out of the side, due to illness, with Bradley Johnson returning to the fold in his place. This alteration saw a shuffle in the Rovers bench, which included potential home debutant Lewis Holtby alongside Dominic Samuel who returned to the first-team picture for the first time in over a year, fresh from his hattrick for the under-23s in midweek. The good news didn’t stop there for Rovers, as skipper Elliott Bennett was set to make his 150th appearance for the club, in what has been a memorable three-and-a-half-year stint at the club.
As a packed Blackburn End, full of complementary local scout groups as part of a club initiative to attracted the next generation, roared on their heroes, Rovers soon got the game underway, shooting unusually towards the Blackburn End in the first half, with the hope that they could dismantle the newly-promoted side who came into the tie off the back of a 4-0 hammering against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup Third Round.
Although Rovers had the better of the opening minutes of the game, they failed to make their pressure and their crosses into the box pay with a half-chance going behind for a goal-kick, after a deep corner was played. This allowed Luton Town to regain possession from the goal-kick, which led to the first real opportunity of the tie falling to Harry Cornick, after only seven minutes were on the clock. The 24-year old got on the end of Izzy Brown’s through ball, before turning Elliott Bennett inside-out and testing former Luton loanee, Christian Walton at his near-post, which the big ‘keeper was equal to, as he fell down to his left to claim the greasy ball.
The 11th minute saw Rovers pile on the pressure again as Lewis Travis and Stewart Downing combined well to earn a corner, which Luton soon did well to clear.
The game soon became a more balanced affair by the 17th minute, which saw the deadlock broken thanks to Town’s 2018-19 Player of the Season, James Collins who added to his impressive Hatters tally with a thumping header to round his stats off at 30 goals in 48 appearances for the Bedfordshire club. A throw-in by the away side saw Brown collect the ball on the wing and skip past Travis, before lofting in an inviting cross which eluded both Rovers centre-backs, Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams, before landing perfectly on Collins’ head who simply guided it into the top right-hand corner of the net, after getting the better of Bennett on the leap, to give his side an unlikely 1-0 lead.
On the 23rd minute, Luton would have doubled their lead at 2-0 had it not been for the last-gasp interception from Williams. A deep cross came in which gave Cornick the perfect opportunity to equal Collins’ headed effort with one of his own, yet, thankfully for the home crowd, Williams was alert enough to take charge of the situation and clear the potential danger.
The game petered out into a battle for possession, with neither side really managing to gain any convincing hold over the possession, until the 35th minute, where Rovers crafted themselves their first chance at goal since going a goal behind. Adam Armstrong picked the ball up wide of the left-hand side, before laying it off to Greg Cunningham, whose pass deflected off Rovers’ summer trialist, Jacob Butterfield and into the path of Bradley Johnson. The former Derby County midfielder – who had spent Tuesday with his former teammates, but was thankfully not involved in the subsequent controversial incidents – lined up his angles from distance, before hitting a heavy shot that cause Hatter ‘keeper Simon Sluga no trouble at all, as it veered wide and ended up going behind for a goal-kick.
Rovers kept up their intensity and pressure from the Luton goal-kick as only a minute later, in the 36th minute, they managed to calm down the Ewood crowd, by earning a leveller through a net-busting effort by Lewis Travis who bagged his first ever goal on home turf, and his second for the club, after he grabbed his first in the final away day of last season, at Carrow Road. Bennett’s footwork and work-rate were key in the build-up, as some good passing on the edge of the away side’s box, saw the ball fall to the skipper who had overlapped Downing. The former England international then laid the ball off to the captain, who pulled out some stepovers, before finding Travis on the edge of the area. The promising midfielder’s first touch gave him the momentum to create an angle beyond Butterfield, his marker, before releasing a thunderbolt, after being encouraged by the crowd, which left Sluga diving for despair as the scores were equalised at 1-1.
From the restart, the timid nature of the game continued, with Luton incurring the wrath of the home crowd in the meanwhile, over their seeming inability to take set-pieces quickly. With this in mind, and referee Gavin Ward unwilling to put a stop to it and allowing the game to flow, the next half-chance didn’t appear until the stroke of half-time. A deep Downing cross, aimed at Sam Gallagher was intercepted by James Bree at the back-post, leaving the £5m Rovers forward in frustration at his lack of opportunities thus far.
With the game failing to liven up to an acceptable standard, considering the quality on the pitch, referee Gavin Ward added on an extra two minutes onto the end of the first-half as a result of the perceived Luton time-wasting, before soon blowing for the half-time whistle.
During the half-time break, it would be fair to admit that neither manager was entirely pleased with the first 45 minutes of play that they had witnessed, especially Tony Mowbray.
The home manager’s reaction to his side’s performance at the break would have bordered on anger, following their inability to track and stop Collins for the Luton goal, especially after they had spent a majority of the opening 15 minutes of the game with the upper-hand, but the inability to find the net. Mowbray’s frustrations would have eased however, following Travis’ wonderstrike, but that still wouldn’t have pleased the 55-year old, who would have believed that his side failed to do enough to break down a side that had conceded 10 goals in their last three games.
Former Belgium assistant manager, Graeme Jones, however, would have been happy with how his side had executed his ‘smash and grab’ gameplan, down to a tee. Whilst the Gateshead-born manager wouldn’t have been happy to his side conceded in the build-up to the break, Jones would have taken some conciliation – being a former forward himself – knowing that the strike was one of top-drawer quality. The Hatters boss’s delight at half-time would have allowed his players to come out into the second-half brimming with confidence, knowing that fellow former League One side, Charlton Athletic had also come away from Ewood Park with all three points.
Once the players had returned, and everything was present and correct, the second-half was started by Luton, who were hoping to reward the 1,326 fans who had made the long journey up to Lancashire with a win that would have ended their poor run of form, which had seen them lose their past two league games.
In a game of half-chances, the first of the second period fell to Rovers on the 49th minute, through Gallagher, who capitalised on a sleepy Luton defence, to rob the ball off them on the edge of their area, before opting to slide in Armstrong, rather than shoot. Whilst the shot from Gallagher was probably the better option, Armstrong was unable to sort out his feet quick enough, before the move broke down with some good recovery play from Luton.
On the 53rd minute, Luton hit a committed Rovers side, on the break. Izzy Brown broke through the centre of the park on the break and found Harry Cornick who had peeled off the back of Greg Cunningham, before releasing a right-footed effort that, although looked to have been going wide, was tipped behind by a cautious Walton.
Two minutes later, Jacob Butterfield became the first player of the afternoon to fall into referee, Gavin Ward’s notebook, after the 29-year old hacked down Lewis Travis in the centre of the park.
Things went from bad for Rovers, to worse by the 57th minute when Luton managed to capitalise on a soft foul by Cunningham, in order to score their second headed goal of the afternoon and go ahead for the second time in the match at 2-1. A ball into the feet of Cornick saw him fall down under pressure from Cunningham, which led to Town’s wide-right free-kick. The set-piece was perfectly whipped in by Chelsea loanee, Brown, directly onto the head of former Rovers youth trainee, Matty Pearson who, despite never making an appearance in the Blue and White halves, managed to claim a goal at Ewood Park, thanks to his unchallenged header that proved too quick for Walton to stop.
Moments after the goal by Pearson, Rovers called for the cavalry as on the 61st minute, Rovers introduced their attacking arsenal which saw last year’s Player of the Season, Danny Graham introduced alongside former German international, Lewis Holtby who was making his Ewood Park debut. Both players were brought on in-place of Sam Gallagher and Bradley Johnson, respectively, as Tony Mowbray tried to avoid another loss to a newly-promoted side.
Graham and Holtby’s impact on the game immediately saw the former win a free-kick that Downing stood up to take. Although the set-piece was only 25-yards out and within shooting range, the veteran winger’s left-footed effort lacked the necessary curl and pinpoint accuracy that would have caused Town’s ‘keeper, Simon Sluga problems, as the side-netting rippled.
The 63rd minute saw Graham immediately thrust into the action as he forced Sluga down to his left-hand side, in order to make a save. Bennett’s low cross was well connected on the half volley by the fresh Graham whose effort looked destined to be the leveller, but for the Croat Sluga’s fine stop.
Bennett was again involved in Rovers’ next move when he again set up a Rovers substitute, this time, the German Holtby was the recipient of Bennett’s pass. Holtby received the ball on the left-hand side before cutting in, in order to create shooting angle for his left-foot to strike. Although he managed to create the space, his effort was marginally off target as, although he tried to find the near-post, his shot had too much curl, as it veered past the near-post and went behind for a goal-kick to Luton.
The 69th minute saw another Rovers chance go begging, this time for Adam Armstrong. The former Newcastle man was slid through by Derrick Williams, who played an inch perfect through ball down the channel for Armstrong. The forward-turned-winger, wasted no time in using his pace to get beyond his man and breaking into the box, but his eventual shot had more power than accuracy, as he blazed it over from close-range.
Moments later, Williams had a chance of his own to level the scoring, after he got on the end of Stewart Downing’s corner. Although Downing’s delivery was on the money, Williams ultimately headed wide of the target, leaving Rovers and their crowd frustrated.
From the stoppage in play, Luton made their first change of the game as assist specialist, Izzy Brown departed the field and was replaced by former Wigan Athletic winger, Callum McManaman.
Only two minutes after his introduction, McManaman found himself thrust into the action as he was able to get a shot away which caused Walton some issues. The winger picked up the ball on the left and cut inside to release a powerful drive with his right-foot that left Walton wincing, despite parrying the shot, after his palms were stung by the strong effort.
On the 75th minute, Dack and Graham combined well, as they had done many times throughout last season, which resulted in the game’s next effort. A deep cross by Darragh Lenihan saw Graham lay it off for Dack with a cushioned header. Dack’s subsequent effort lacked the guile needed in order to equalise, as Luton were awarded a goal-kick after the ball hit row z.
Rovers thought their constant attacking pressure had soon paid off on the 78th minute, when Dack managed to bundle the ball into the back of the net, after diverting Williams’ header home. A Holtby corner was half-cleared by Luton, before making its way back to the German who lofted in a cross which Williams met. The header by Williams, which was heading off-target, was diverted past Sluga by the chest of Dack, which saw Ewood Park roar in celebration of the equaliser. Unfortunately for the home players and crowd, the officiating team had other ideas, as after a period of discussion between referee and linesman, the final decision was to rightly rule out the goal for offside, after replays have since shown that Dack moved prior to Williams’ initial header.
In reaction to the events that had unfolded, both sides made changes in a matter of minutes of each other, in order to change the dynamic of the game. Rovers made their final change as Elliott Bennett departed, with Dominic Samuel making a long-awaited return to first-team picture after over a year out with injury. Luton, on the other hand, saw Jacob Butterfield become the second Hatters player to be substituted, with midfielder Luke Berry taking his place.
The 84th minute saw Lewis Travis become the first, and only Rovers player in the game, to get booked by Gavin Ward.
Moments later, Luton made their final change on the 86th minute. Harry Cornick was withdrawn and replaced by former Liverpool centre-back Lloyd Jones as Luton added more height and natural defensive prowess to their side, in an effort to ‘shut up shop’ in the face of Rovers’ five attackers.
As the clock ticked over to 90 minutes, the officials added on six extra minutes to the end of the game, which saw the Rovers crowd push on their team, in the hope that they could snatch a late equaliser and break Luton hearts.
That equaliser, sadly never came, as the only notable moment worth mentioning in the added time, was the yellow card that fell on the head of Dan Potts, for time wasting.
After Rovers’ goalscorer Lewis Travis was named the club’s sponsor’s Man of the Match, the full-time whistle from Gavin Ward was met by a chorus of boos from the home crowd who were far from pleased with such a demoralising performance, especially after a run of good results in previous games.
In full honesty, there is not much to summarise in the usual ‘post-match summary’ section, simply due to the fact that Rovers were extremely poor from the moment James Collins found the back of the net, until the full-time whistle. Whilst the only positive from Rovers’ perspective was Travis’s first goal on home soil, the rest of the performance wasn’t up to the standard of a team with top six aspirations, especially against a side who have recently come up from League One and lost three of their last four games. Whilst each fan will have their own personal inquisition into the poor performance, it will be interesting to see how Tony Mowbray and his side react to this ‘unforgivable’ defeat, in their quick turnaround, against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
Before focussing upon Rovers’ upcoming fixtures, the league table sees Rovers – after the Sunday results – sat in 11th place, on 13 points, with an equal goal-difference of zero. Whilst the season is just shy of a quarter of the way through, Rovers are still within touching distance of the top of the league, let along the playoff spots, with 6 points and 4 points respectively separating the Blues from those positions.
As highlighted, Rovers are quickly back in action on Tuesday 1st October, as they play host to high-flying Nottingham Forest, at 7:45pm at Ewood Park. After Forest depart, Rovers hop back on their team coach in order to make the long trip down to London, to face an inform Queens Park Rangers side on Saturday 5th October at 3pm, at the at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium – more commonly known as Loftus Road. After they return from London, the league halts for the second international break of the season, which sees a fortnight break for international fixtures, before a return to club action sees Rovers welcome the Sky Sports cameras as Huddersfield Town become the next side visit to Ewood Park, on Saturday 19th October, with kick-off scheduled for 12:30pm.
