Rovers’ charge towards the playoff spots continued at Ashton Gate, as Tony Mowbray’s men issued a ‘statement performance’ to the rest of the league as they brushed aside a ‘fragile’ Bristol City team by a 2-0 scoreline, in order to stretch their fine form to six wins from their last eight outings.
With the turnaround of games coming thick and fast during the festive period, Tony Mowbray executed his pre-warned changes from the side that drew 1-1 away in Wales against Swansea City, less than 72 hours before kick-off at Ashton Gate. Six new faces were introduced to the starting line-up – with one being enforced due to Bradley Dack’s midweek dismissal – as Amari’i Bell, Bradley Johnson, Elliott Bennett (who captained the side), Lewis Holtby, Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher all returned to the team, with Brereton making his first league start of the campaign. The departing quintet saw Stewart Downing, Corry Evans, Joe Rothwell, Adam Armstrong and Danny Graham all drop to the bench, whilst the sixth departure from the midweek side, Bradley Dack was forced to sit in the stands due to his one-game suspension.
As Bristol City lined up for their final home game before Christmas, in which they looked to rebound following a midweek home defeat to Millwall, events before kick-off didn’t go their way as they lost the coin toss which saw Rovers handed the kick-off, as the grey-wearing players composed themselves in hope of extending their menacing form ahead of the 659 Lancastrians that had made the long trip down to Bristol.
Things soon went from bad to worse for the hosts, as their loss on the coin toss also led to their loss of a clean sheet after just 63 seconds as Rovers flew out of the traps to perfectly execute a set-piece routine, rounded off perfectly by Bradley Johnson’s piledriver. From the commencement, Rovers managed to maintain possession of the ball and work it out to Amari’i Bell on the left-hand side, who battled with his opposing full-back, on-loan Benfica man, Pedro Pereira, in order to earn Rovers an early corner, that Lewis Holtby stood over. With intense jostling in the box, Holtby’s low drive into the box saw Bradley Johnson peel off the penalty spot and hammer in an unstoppable left-footed drive through the arms of City ‘keeper Daniel Bentley to give the away side an early 1-0 lead, as the travelling Rovers fans were treated to an early start, right in-front of their stand.
From the unexpected restart, a shell-shocked Bristol City side tried to regroup and get back on level terms on the eight minute, through Swedish midfielder, Niclas Eliasson, who forced a quick reaction save from the untested Christian Walton. Some good build-up play by the hosts saw the ball spread out wide to Eliasson who played a one-two with Tommy Rowe, before trying his luck from close-range, but a combination of Darragh Lenihan’s positioning and Walton’s outstanding reactions kept the Rovers clean sheet intact.
Short corners seemed to be the order of the day as City took one of their own, following Walton’s terrific save. Rovers’ defiant defending forced the home side to work the ball around the penalty area, from the left-hand side, over to the right, as they tried to find a way through. The gap eventually opened for the hosts as Andreas Weimann’s low cross found Ashley Williams, who saw his effort denied by more well-positioned defending by Lenihan, who was forced to concede another corner, which the hosts soon squandered.
On the 13th minute, the Rovers’ corner count rose to two as Holtby delivered in a more orthodox set-piece, to which Lenihan met. Despite the Irishman’s leap being good, his contact, as a result of being under pressure from Williams, saw the ball sent back to from where it was sent, as the home side were awarded a goal-kick.
With the game petering out into a possession battle, with little to no action at goal, pantomime season seemingly came a few weeks earlier than expected, as the affair soon sparked into a feisty one courtesy of Rovers physio, Andy Mitchell’s eagerness to provide Sam Gallagher with some medical attention. Following a clattering between Gallagher and Tomáš Kalas, a turnover of possession saw Bristol try and make their way up the field. As Han-Noah Massengo received the ball and tried to get his team up the field, the flow of play was disrupted by physio Mitchell encroaching the field of play, despite not being given the green light by the match official, John Brooks. This led to tempers flaring between the two sets of players, the Rovers bench and City manager Lee Johnson – who later moaned about a Rovers member of staff ‘punching the ball away’ as the ball went out for a throw-in on the stroke of half-time – as the home manager’s actions talked himself into a yellow card.
With tempers at a maximum across Ashton Gate, Ashley Williams did nothing to sooth the home crowd’s mood as he missed a gilt-edged chance to draw his side level, on the 22nd minute, following a set-piece. Former Preston North End midfielder, Josh Brownhill played the Bristol free-kick out wide to Eliasson, who cut back onto his left-foot before floating in a ball which Brereton couldn’t avoid, as he flicked it on, into the path of Williams who wriggled free of his marker to emerge at the back-post with a free attempt at goal. The former Swansea City captain took his chance first-time, via a header, but couldn’t steer the attempt on target past the stranded Walton, as the score remained in favour of the away side, who also received a goal-kick from referee John Brooks.
The 26th minute saw Rovers push forward again, in search of a second goal before the break. The Robin’s attempt at playing out from the back backfired catastrophically, as a wayward long-pass from Pereira, following good pressure by Brereton, saw Johnson intercept in the middle of the park. The midfielder wasted no time as he nodded the ball back whence it came, into the stride of Elliott Bennett, who nodded the ball down into Sam Gallagher’s path. The forward let the ball run across his body before lacing a drive towards the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, to which Bentley was equal, as he palmed the ball into the path of Brereton, whose cross was deflected behind for a corner. The subsequent corner saw Bentley again called into action, as he did well to deny Lenihan’s header and relieve the pressure off his nervous defence.
With emotions high, Gallagher soon found himself in the referee’s book, on the 33rd minute, for a foul on Bristol central defender, Kalas.
Bradley Johnson came agonisingly close to grabbing a brace on the 37th minute, as his lasered left-footed strike forced Bentley into a smart save. Rovers shifted the ball out to an advancing Bell, who managed to pick out in the box. The young forward did superbly well to hold off the experienced Williams, before turning him and having the presence of mind to spot in incoming Johnson, in acres of space just inside the penalty area. The ball trickled invitingly for Johnson, whose first-time strike forced Bentley into a smart save to deny Rovers a second.
Six minutes later, Lewis Holtby tried his luck from the top of the box, but saw his effort drop wide of the far-post.
Once the 45th minute arrived, the three allocated minutes that referee John Brooks added, yielded no chances, with most of the action coming after the whistle had been blown. After the official called for the end of the half, the players were compelled to feverishly make their way down the tunnel after some arguments reignited between both benches, just inside the tunnel, which seemed a continuation from the incident with Mitchell and Johnson.
After order was restored and both sides returned to their respective dressing rooms, there would have been contrasting words from the respective dressing rooms, following the rather timid first-half that both sides put on for the supporters.
In the home dressing room, a riled-up Lee Johnson would have been using his emotions to his advantage, in an attempt to instil some belief and confidence within his side, especially after their poor showing in their most recent outing, against Millwall. The former Barnsley boss would have been frustrated that his side hadn’t at least drawn level due to the couple of chances that fell to Ashley Williams, however the Robins boss would have had faith in his team to make their home dominance count against a Rovers side who found away wins scarce to come by.
Rovers’ dressing room, in contrast, would have had a more buoyant feel to it, with the away side ending the first-half on the ascendancy, courtesy of Bradley Johnson’s early strike. Whilst the leading position was something that Tony Mowbray wouldn’t have turned his nose up at, had he been offered it before kick-off, the experienced boss was aware of the backlash that his side were to witness by the home side, in the second-half. Mowbray would have made it his top priority during the break to inculcate a cautious, but wary mantra to his side, to maturely see the second-half out, with a positive result.
With both sides briefed, they returned to the pitch ahead of Bristol City restarting the game at the kick-off, as their fans impatiently waited for their team, who have notably found it hard to perform in-front of their own supporters this season, to turn up.
The first action of the second-half – which continued where the first-half left off, in terms of a lack of action – was the change in personnel that Bristol City commission on the 59th minute as Callum O’Dowda and Jack Hunt entered the fray, replacing Ádám Nagy and Pedro Pereira, respectively.
Hunt’s introduction nearly had a devastating impact, from Rovers’ perspective, nine minutes after he was introduced. The former Crystal Palace right-back picked up the ball in an advanced area and delivered an invitingly low cross which only required a firm touch from Famara Diédhiou to draw the Robins level. Unfortunately for the home side, Diédhiou’s run and Hunt’s cross were miliseconds out of sync, as the ball trickled across the face of goal, bounced off Diédhiou’s left boot and skewed behind for a Rovers goal-kick.
That break in play allowed both sides to make alterations to their teams. Rovers made their first change of the game as Adam Armstrong took the place of Ben Brereton, who took a well-earned break after running himself ragged for his side. Simultaneously, the Robins made their final alteration as Sammie Szmodics came on in-place of Tommy Rowe.
On the 75th minute, Bentley, under no pressure, managed to misplace pass into no man’s land and put his side in danger as Holtby latched onto the loose ball. Despite the German being able to cut onto his favoured left-foot, he tried to set up a teammate with his right, but saw his low cross deflect behind for a corner which the home side cleared.
The Rovers pressure from the corner continued, as it soon led to a second goal for the away side as Adam Armstrong managed to execute Tony Mowbray’s plan to perfection on the 77th minute. With City pushing up as high as the halfway line in search of an equaliser, their exposed defence was being eyed up by Armstrong, who, under instruction from Mowbray, lurked in and around the unusually high defenders, in search of a quick breakaway. That chance soon came as some good tenacity in the middle of the park by Johnson, saw him dispossess Massengo. Johnson managed to slide through – whilst already celebrating the goal that hadn’t gone in yet(!) – into Armstrong who had the freedom of Ashton Gate and all the time in the world to slot the ball underneath the on-rushing Bentley to secure the three points on the road for Rovers at 2-0 and confirm another unbeaten week for the Lancashire side.
Upon the restart, Weimann received a yellow card from the referee for fouling Gallagher.
With Mowbray satisfied with his team’s efforts, he elected only to make a second substitution, and neglect a third change in the latter stages of the game – which came on the 80th minute – as Joe Rothwell was offered a brief run out as the rapid midfielder replaced technician, Lewis Holtby.
As the game entered its latter stages, there weren’t many home fans remaining inside Ashton Gate to witness Lenihan picking up his fifth yellow booking of the season in the 85th minute.
The clocked soon ticked over into the 90th minute, and with the home side resigned to their second consecutive home defeat of the league campaign, the four added minutes that John Brooks called for seemed more of a chore for the laboured home side, rather than a motive to try and find quickfire equalisers. With Rovers relatively comfortable with their two-goal advantage, the four minutes soon flew by as a chorus of boos from the remaining home crowd drowned out the celebrations in the away end as Rovers managed to end the week unbeaten following back-to-back away games, heading into two home games on the bounce.
‘Better late than never’ can be attributed to both, this article, and the second ‘killer’ goal Rovers scored at Ashton Gate. Although not scored in ‘squeaky bum time’, the crucial timing of Armstrong’s goal, with just under a quarter of an hour until full-time, knocked all confidence that Bristol would have amassed during their second-half forays forward. Additionally, the bonus of a clean sheet against a side who, last year, trounced Rovers by a 4-1 scoreline, is always welcome. Furthermore, the second goal aided Rovers in silencing the growingly impatient and hostile crowd in order to see out, arguably, the best performance of the campaign. Massive commendations must be given to the staff and the players for the way they handled this tricky week of football. With Rovers coming into what looked, on paper, to be a strenuous week, which was coupled with the overheads of travelling and having to stay and train in hotel accommodation, one would have been forgiven to believe that the satisfying unbeaten run, would have ended with last Wednesday’s game against Swansea City. Brilliantly, however, the players managed to show the ‘camaraderie’ and talent that Mowbray has talked so much about, as they emerged from two tough fixtures with a very respectable tally of four points from a possible six, a feat, which would have arguably been unheard of, 12 months ago.
A convincing away win? Two goals? A CLEAN SHEET?! It really is Christmas!
Looking at the table following the completion of gameweek 22’s fixtures, Rovers are camped in a promising 9th place in the league, with 34 points and a positive goal-difference of 2, following their satisfying exploits on the road.
Looking ahead to the fixtures in the run-up to the New Year, the Blues can now continue their search for playoff football safely in the knowledge that they have back-to-back home games on the horizon, before hopping back on the coach to travel to an away game. The first of the consecutive home games, sees relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic make the short trip across Lancashire to Ewood Park as part of Sky Sports’ weekday football coverage. As a result of Sky’s intervention, the game is scheduled for Monday 23rd December at 7:45pm. After Wigan’s departure, we’re all scheduled to have a very Merry Christmas, before returning to Ewood for the annual Boxing Day fixture. This year, Birmingham City will be the final visitors to Ewood Park as kick-off is scheduled for 3pm. Rovers’ 2019 sees them end it on the road as they make the trip across the Pennines to lock horns with Huddersfield Town, for the second time this season, on Sunday 29th December at 3pm.
