There was a share of the spoils at Ewood Park as the 105th Lancashire Derby between Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End, saw both sides stop their poor respective runs of form with a controversial, but feisty 1-1 draw that was played out in adverse weather conditions fitting of the fixture.
Tony Mowbray made five changes to the Rovers side that fell to a surprising 2-1 defeat away at Birmingham City in the FA Cup, seven days ago. Christian Walton, Ryan Nyambe, Corry Evans, Lewis Travis and Lewis Holtby all returned as Jayson Leutwiler, Elliott Bennett, Bradley Johnson and Joe Rothwell all dropped to the bench with the fifth change, Ben Brereton being left out of the squad completely. Among the ranks were three impressive milestones as Corry Evans racked up his 200th game in the Blue and White halves, whilst Amari’i Bell gained his 50th league start for the Blues. Christian Walton was also among the achievements as he lined-up for his 150th club career game.
Just prior to the kick-off, the home fans were greeted by former player Morten Gamst Pedersen – who had spent the week training at Brockhall following his release by recently-relegated Norwegian side Tromsø IL – took to the pitch as he basked in the praise from the home end.
Following Pedersen’s departure into the stands, the game was soon started by Rovers, who came into this game hoping to make their home advantage count by starting early, in a similar fashion to how they did at Deepdale in October. Additionally, the home fans would have been hoping that the side could pick up their first victory against Preston since the 2-1 victory in November 2015, which would stop the poor run of form they found themselves in ahead of kick-off, as they came into this game following three defeats on the spin.
With the 6,276 Preston fans in full voice, the first opportunity of the game fell to the visitors’ forward Sean Maguire. Maguire received the ball on the half-turn inside the opening two minutes and skipped past some Rovers defenders before trying his luck from just outside the box, however the forward’s effort proved to be catching practice for Christian Walton who easily dealt with the ball.
Much to the relief of the 13,687 home fans scattered around Ewood Park after that early scare from Maguire, Rovers did manage to make lightning strike twice as they grabbed another early goal against Preston, this time through Adam Armstrong after just three minutes of play. Stewart Downing intercepted a loose ball by PNE captain Tom Clarke, before playing Armstrong in down the left-hand side. Rovers’ second top goalscorer this season, after Bradley Dack’s 10, burst down the left before cutting inside onto his stronger right-foot. The ball ricocheted into Lewis Holtby who held off Ben Davies as the ball was accidentally tackled from the recovering Clarke into Armstrong’s path who needed no second invitation to slot the ball beyond Declan Rudd who was in-between the North End posts. That goal saw Rovers extend their impressive record of scoring goals inside the first 15 minutes of play to 10 – the highest in the Championship – as they took the lead in the derby at 1-0 courtesy of Armstrong’s eight of the campaign, in all competitions.
With Rovers ahead, Preston began to up their pressure and turn the game into a scrappy one, so much so that a seven-minute stoppage occurred after eight minutes of play after visiting captain Tom Clarke collided with Rovers midfielder Corry Evans, who was subsequently stretchered off with what was confirmed after the game by Tony Mowbray to be a broken nose. Amazingly, the collision saw the visiting captain escape a booking, despite Clarke’s boot making contact with the face of Evans.
As a result of that injury, the first change of the game was required as Corry Evans was stretchered off as Bradley Johnson came on to replace him on the 13th minute.
Two minutes after Johnson’s introduction, Rovers had a free-kick that Downing floated into the area from halfway. The former England international’s delivery was put into a crowd of players before it was flicked down into Armstrong’s path who delivered a first-time volley that edged narrowly wide of the target, despite most of the Jack Walker End thinking it was a goal.
The sides were soon drawn level with what was only Preston’s second attempt thus far. Rovers conceded a free-kick midway inside their own-half that Paul Gallagher stood over. The former Rovers midfielder floated a ball that was headed down by Davies, invitingly for a strike from the edge of the area. Rovers failed to pick up the loose ball as Josh Harrop accepted Davies’ invitation for a strike by magnificently walloping the ball towards goal, as it zipped past Walton and nestled into the roof of the net to draw North End level at 1-1, much to the dissatisfaction of the home fans behind the goal, who were then amusingly taunted by the goalscorer.
On the half-hour mark, Downing connected well with Lewis Holtby as the former set up the latter with a disguised pass. The former German international got the ball out of his feet quick enough in order to release a shot that looked destined to arrow into the top left-hand corner, however luckily for North End, Rudd was on-hand to tip it behind for a corner, that the away side dealt with.
Minutes later, Downing managed to deliver a ball into the box that Sam Gallagher tried to connect with, however the forward was unable to guide his header goalward with the desired power, as Rudd easily claimed the effort. The chance by Gallagher came following some criticism from the home fans towards Mowbray, as they vociferously enquired as to why the forward had spent most of the first-half on the right-hand side of Rovers’ attack delivering crosses into Lewis Holtby when, in reality, the roles should have been reversed.
As the clock ticked over to the 45th minute, referee James Linington added an extra seven minutes of time onto the end of the half, due to the injury to Corry Evans in the early stages.
The fourth minute of added time saw Rovers again miss a great chance to go back ahead. A short corner fell to Lewis Holtby, who was on the corner of the box, yet his effort just sneaked over the crossbar, as PNE were awarded a goal-kick.
A minute later, Rovers were awarded a free-kick which saw Amari’i Bell quickly, yet controversially slip it into the path of Armstrong who stayed onside and broke into the box past the hesitant Preston defence. The visitors were unhappy that the set-piece was played quickly, due to the referee initially wanting to speak to the offender, Patrick Bauer. Despite that however, Armstrong was unable to add to his tally, as his effort spun wide of the far-post.
That chance proved to be the final one of the half as the Mr. Linington soon called an end to a lively first-half that could have seen Rovers enter their dressing room ahead, had Holtby and Armstrong converted their respective chances.
In the Rovers dressing room, Tony Mowbray would have been pleased with how his side had come out in the first period, given the poor run of form they had found themselves in in recent weeks. The boss would have been happy with the fact that Rovers had scored early again, however he would have been made his frustrations regarding the Preston goal known to his side, despite undoubtedly offering words of advice and encouragement to his side after their stellar first-half.
In the opposing dressing room, North End boss Alex Neil would have been satisfied with how his side had applied themselves considering their poor run of form recently which has seen them not record a league win since the 14th December. The former Norwich City boss would have made a point to his players of continuing what they were doing as the chances would eventually fall their way, if they continued their pressing, as Rovers would eventually tire out. As PNE were the away team, Neil would have expected Rovers to dominate like they had done throughout the first-half, however the manager would have been confident that, with the talent of Jayden Stockley, David Nugent and new signing Scott Sinclair, among others on his bench, he would be able to change the dynamic of the game late on.
With the away fans noisily backing their side, it was Preston who got the game back underway in the second-half as they looked to bounce back from two successive home league defeats to Reading and Middlesbrough, respectively, with a win against their local rivals which would extend their record over Rovers to six wins and a draw from their past seven games.
The second-half didn’t start as lively as the first as the only real notable actions of the first 15 minutes of the second period saw Darragh Lenihan booked for a foul on Sean Maguire, which came whilst Rovers’ second change of the afternoon occurred, as Elliott Bennett replaced Ryan Nyambe who was forced off with a hamstring injury.
The first Preston change occurred on the 62nd minute as Jayden Stockley was introduced in-place of Tom Barkhuizen.
A second yellow card was controversially shown to Rovers four minutes after the North End change, as Lewis Travis – who came out of a strong challenge on Paul Gallagher with the ball – saw himself written into the referee’s book.
The final Rovers change on the 69th minute saw the introduction of Danny Graham as Lewis Holtby made way.
A minute later, Downing managed to loft in a corner which Bradley Johnson connected with. Unluckily for the towering midfielder, he couldn’t keep his header on target as PNE were awarded a goal-kick.
The 72nd minute saw Paul Gallagher stand over a free-kick from around 20-yards out. Despite the former Rover being a renowned set-piece specialist, he was unable to make his former club pay as the effort curled behind.
The game soon livened up as Bell’s slip allowed for Maguire to burst through on goal with the Rovers half near-empty bar Walton and Bell, himself. The full-back did, however, manage to recover from his mistake and block the forward’s shot in order to redeem himself and deny the visitors an attempt at goal.
On the 80th minute, Darragh Lenihan burst forward and provided a wild cross towards Danny Graham, yet the forward mistimed his effort as the ball sped through his legs and went behind for a goal-kick.
That stoppage allowed for Preston to make their second-change of the game as the visiting crowd got what they asked for, as Scott Sinclair came on for his debut replacing the goalscorer, Josh Harrop.
The 83rd minute saw one of the game’s more controversial moments as the Rovers faithful thought they should have been awarded a penalty after Sam Gallagher went down in the box under pressure from Patrick Bauer and Ben Davies. Despite the official deeming it a foul by the forward, rather than on him, a majority of the home crowd believed that they should have had a stonewall penalty, despite replays showing that the referee’s decision was justified, after Gallagher had barged into Davies aggressively.
Three minutes later, Rovers worked the ball out to Armstrong, who sent in a deep, curling cross from the left-hand side. Despite everyone missing the header, the cross spiralled towards goal and bounced back into play off the post, before Rudd claimed the loose ball.
Preston managed to get themselves back up the other end within seconds as an effort by Paul Gallagher was blocked behind by Bell, despite replays suggesting that the ball came off Bell’s hand. Preston were unable to profit from the corner as Walton managed to claim the cross.
The final change of the game saw Preston introduce Brad Potts for Paul Gallagher, as they looked to try and add another attacking outlet to their arsenal in an attempt to win the game late on.
In the 89th minute, Lewis Travis found himself with the ball on the edge of the area, yet his left-footed effort towards goal was tame, as Rudd collected with ease off the greasy surface.
As the 90th minute approached, four extra minutes were added onto the end of the game as Rovers looked more likely to grab the winner during the closing stages of the game.
In the 92nd minute, Travis stood up a cross towards the back-post however Patrick Bauer was there to clean up before Graham could connect with the cross.
From Bauer’s clearance, Rovers were awarded a corner that was flicked on towards the back-post as Tosin Adarabioyo came within inches of being the later winner with a volley from yards out, however Rudd was on hand to parry the ball behind for another corner.
The second consecutive corner proved to be the game’s final play as the ball dropped to Travis who fired wide from just outside the area, as the referee soon blew for full-time, in a game that Rovers would have been disappointed not to win.
Despite the second-half not living up to the excitement of the first, on the balance of play, Rovers would have been disappointed not to come away from this game with their first derby victory since the backend of 2015. Without looking at the game through rose-tinted glasses, basing the verdict on the concrete stats alone, rather than relying on bias, Rovers had the better of the game accumulating twice as many attempts at goal than the visitors, with four versus two on-target, in addition to more possession at 58% vs 42%. Whilst having the better of the game is all well and good, it ultimately means nothing if you’re not able to take your chances, something the team learnt all too well in their previous game against Birmingham City in the FA Cup.
One thing which annoyed both managers following the game and both sets of supporters throughout, was the inconsistent officiating by Mr. Linington, who completely lost control of the game in the second-half and was not suited to a derby of such passion and magnitude. Regardless of whether key decisions such as the foul on Gallagher, or the handball by Bell were seen correctly, the official’s decisions in open play were rather bamboozling as he refused to let the game flow in the first-half, blowing for a number of soft fouls and refusing to book Preston for some rather devious play in which they refused to hand the ball back prior to Rovers set-pieces, whereas in the second-half he tried to let the game flow, yet missed clear fouls from both sides on top of not handling his bookings well, with only two cards being shown throughout the whole game, both to Rovers players, despite Preston accumulating 12 fouls to Rovers’ 10. Furthermore, it is still a wonder as to how Tom Clarke avoided a booking in the challenge that saw Corry Evans stretchered off inside 10 minutes.
The dodgy official aside, despite Rovers potentially believing they should have won the game on principle of chances created, the draw seemed to be a fair result when looking at the overall picture, due to the close proximity between the sides in the league and their recent respective form.
After Sunday’s South Wales Derby, which saw Cardiff City and Swansea City play out a goalless draw, Rovers find themselves in 13th with 37 points and a neutral goal-difference from 27 games played. With 19 games left as well as the rest of the window only four points separates Rovers from the final playoff spot, which sets up the rest of the campaign to be an exciting one, if Tony Mowbray’s men can get another positive run of form together.
Looking ahead to the next couple of fixtures, Rovers are back in action next Saturday as they travel to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday on 18th January at 3pm. After that, they return to Ewood Park to host Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday 28th January at 7:45pm, in a fixture that was re-arranged after the R’s advanced to the 4th Round of the FA Cup. Following that game against Mark Warburton’s side, Rovers are again on the road as they travel up to the North-East on Saturday 1st February at 3pm, to face a Middlesbrough side who have recently been revived under December’s Manager of the Month, Jonathan Woodgate.
