It was a day for the occasion, rather than the result at Ewood Park as club legend Tony Parkes returned, after recently being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, to watch his beloved Rovers face off against promotion-challengers Fulham. Sadly for ‘Mr. Blackburn Rovers’, his presence was unable to inspire the current crop to extend their unbeaten home run, as it was halted at 10, courtesy of Aleksandar Mitrović’s 20th league goal of the season which saw Fulham emerge victorious at 1-0.
The team that Tony Mowbray sent out to face the Cottagers saw one change to the side that were held to a 1-1 draw away at Middlesbrough, a week earlier. Bradley Johnson was recalled to the side as the former Norwich City man replaced former Fulham loanee, Lewis Holtby, who had been ruled out for the rest of the season after limping off at the Riverside. Due to the unchanged line-up, Stewart Downing and Tosin Adarabioyo notched milestones at different ends of the scale. Downing managed to secure his 600th club career start, whilst City loanee Adarabioyo gained his 50th league career appearance.
As the atmosphere built-up around Ewood Park on what the club had labelled ‘#OneRoversDay’, which focussed on inclusivity within the club around the Blackburn community, alongside the nationwide ‘HeadsUp’ campaign linked to mental health, club legend Tony Parkes was introduced to a standing ovation from the home crowd, who signalled their love towards the ‘one-club man’.
With both sets of supporters, players and the officials ready for the 3pm kick-off, it was Rovers who got the game underway through Adam Armstrong. Whilst Rovers were hoping to achieve an unlikely victory that would not only extend their unbeaten run at Ewood, but also keep them in the hunt for the playoffs, Adam Armstrong was hoping to continue his own individual form after starting 2020 with three goals and four assists in six games in all competitions.
It took 10 minutes for the first opportunity of the game to fall, due to the stodgy nature in which the game began. With both sides unable to keep consistent possession of the ball, Ewood league debutant Joe Rankin-Costello managed to conjure up a rally forward, before laying it off to Ryan Nyambe, who had bombed down the right-hand side in support. The pair played a one-two before Nyambe hit a first-time cross in towards Sam Gallagher. The forward, who got between Michael Hector and Tim Ream connected with the cross but was unable to keep his header down as it looped over the bar and landed on the roof of the net.
Two minutes later, Fulham responded with a header of their own. Former Rover Tom Cairney whipped in a corner towards the near-post which saw former Chelsea defender Hector have an unmarked header powered towards Christian Walton’s near-post. Luckily for Rovers’ lackadaisical defenders, Walton bailed them out with a fine stop.
Walton again was called into action, six minutes later, as Bobby Decordova-Reid saw his cross deflect off Nyambe and spiral towards the far-post. Had Walton not backtracked quick enough and extend his tall frame to get his hand on the ball, Fulham would have taken the lead via the ball dropping inside the far-post. From the corner which Walton subsequently conceded, Rovers managed to do enough to avert the danger away from their goal.
The game soon returned into a battle for possession as the next attempt didn’t appear until the 39th minute, as Rovers came so close to comically handing Fulham a lead. Joe Bryan’s cross saw Bradley Johnson try and cushion a header back to Walton. Rather humorously, Walton and Johnson were not on the same wavelength as the ball bounced past the ‘keeper and narrowly edged wide of the left-hand upright as the whole Rovers supporting contingency had their hearts in their mouths.
That near-calamity proved to be the final sight on goal during the first-half, as after only one minute of added time was allocated onto the end of the first-half, the referee Tony Harrington called time on a ‘slow burner’ of a first period.
During the break, Tony Mowbray would have been relatively pleased with what he had seen from his side. Despite the lack of action in the game, the Rovers boss would have been delighted that his side had limited a potent Fulham side to only a couple of chances. Whilst Rovers had had a few chances of their own during the first 45 minutes, Mowbray would have been hoping that the defensive stability would continue in order to give his side a chance at potentially snatching a victory, given the lack of raw creativity the side possessed.
In the opposing dressing room, Scott Parker would have had a less than pleasing reaction to the half. The former Charlton midfielder would have been frustrated that his side, despite all their quality, had been unable to muster more than the one chance at goal, which came from Hector’s header. The 39-year old would have been encouraging his side, during the break, to increase the pressure up against their hosts, who, Parker would have noted, were a tough nut to crack on home soil.
With 781 Fulham fans making the long trip up from the banks of the River Thames in such atrocious conditions, it was their side who got the ball rolling for the second-half in the hope that they could continue their charge towards securing either an automatic promotion spot or a playoff place come the end of the season, in order to return to the Premier League, at the first-time of asking.
It was their side who had the first opportunity of the game as the 56th minute nearly saw Tom Cairney come back to haunt his former side, for his second consecutive return to Ewood Park, after scoring the winner in a 1-0 win back in August 2016. Josh Onomah picked up the ball on the edge of the Rovers box before laying it off to Cairney, after some fancy footwork by the former Tottenham Hotspur man. Cairney let the ball run across his body as he pulled away from Nyambe, before striking a waist-height left-footed drive towards goal that Walton equalled with a fine stop, before Sam Gallagher hacked the ball clear.
Walton’s resistance against a valiant Fulham was soon broken on the 64th minute after Aleksandar Mitrović managed to put himself level atop of the Championship’s goalscoring standings, alongside Brentford’s Ollie Watkins, with his 20th strike of the season, following some classic centre-forward play. Joe Bryan worked himself inside from the left-hand side, but saw the ball poked away from him by Travis. Unluckily for the Rovers midfielder, his interception saw the ball roll further into his own box, which gave Bryan the opportunity to break into the space and retrieve the ball. Bryan did just that, as he sped past an out-of-position Nyambe in order to cut the ball back to Mitrović, who received the ball around 10-yards away from goal before spinning Tosin Adarabioyo and firing a low shot into the left-hand side of the goal, via Walton’s glove to send the travelling supporters wild, as their side took a much-needed 1-0 lead in order to keep their dreams of remaining at the top-end of the table alive.
From that goal, it took Rovers and Mowbray seven minutes until changes were made to Rovers’ personnel as on the 71st minute, both Joe Rankin-Costello and Bradley Johnson made way from the striking duo of Dominic Samuel and Danny Graham.
The 75th minute saw a rare lapse in concentration from Michael Hector, as he allowed Sam Gallagher in-behind him, after the former Chelsea man slipped on the edge of the box. A cross by Amari’i Bell saw Gallagher try and flick the ball towards Danny Graham which never materialised. The ball soon ricocheted back to Gallagher off Hector’s head, from the initial header, before the forward capitalised on the defender’s slip to hit a low right-footed effort aimed towards Marek Rodák near-post. Luckily for Fulham, Hector’s slip went unpunished as the Slovakian shot-stopper did well to get down quickly to his near-post and deny Gallagher his first Ewood Park goal, since returning permanently.
Four minutes later, Rovers were awarded a free-kick as Decordova-Reid was booked for persistent fouling.
Simultaneous to the awarding of the free-kick and the booking, Fulham made their first change of the afternoon as Josh Onomah departed and was replaced by on-loan Huddersfield Town defender, Terence Kongolo, as Fulham looked to shut up shop.
From the free-kick, Rovers were able to build-up some pressure on the five-man Fulham defence who kept getting deeper as time went on.
The 81st minute saw Ewood Park erupt as Rovers thought they’d levelled, so late on in the game. Travis picked up the ball on the left-wing and delivered a low cross which evaded everybody bar Darragh Lenihan, who did to superbly well control the ball, turn and finish as both Rodák and Decordova-Reid were left for dead. Unfortunately, Lenihan’s and the crowd’s celebrations were controversially halted by the linesman who deemed the Republic of Ireland international to have been offside, much to the annoyance of Tony Mowbray after the game.
As Rovers pushed for an equaliser, Fulham lay in wait of picking the home side off for a second, on the counter-attack. Ivan Cavaleiro did well to pick up the ball on the left-hand side and cut his way into a shooting opportunity, on his right-foot. Despite the build-up being good, the execution lacked the accuracy needed, as the ball ballooned wide of the mark and landed in the empty lower-tier of the Darwen End.
Fulham soon made their second change on the 85th minute as Stefan Johansen was introduced in-place of Tom Cairney, who received a warm applause upon his departure from a majority of the home crowd, as well as his own supporters.
Johansen soon nearly doubled his side’s advantage, following a hysterical lapse in concentration within Rovers defensive ranks in the 88th minute. A high ball saw Nyambe and Lenihan miscommunicate, as the ball bounced off Nyambe’s head and straight into the path of the fresh Johansen, who only had to beat Walton to seal the points for the visitors. Although Johansen did everything right as he stormed towards goal, Walton reacted quickly enough to put a stop to Fulham’s attacking hijinks, as he produced a stupendous save to keep his side in the tie.
From the next break in play, both sides made their final changes late on, as Rovers introduced Ben Brereton for Adam Armstrong, whilst Fulham withdrew Ivan Cavaleiro and threw on Aboubakar Kamara, alongside Mitrović for the closing stages.
The Rovers changes that saw them end the game with four strikers on the field, ultimately weren’t enough for the home side to salvage a point as Rovers were stifled out of an equaliser within the four minutes that were added onto the end of the game, as the home side succumbed to their first home defeat since the surprise 2-1 loss against Luton Town, back in September.
It wasn’t the best game that Rovers fans have ever witnessed, and in honesty, Fulham weren’t at their best for a majority of the game, which was shown by the fact that it took one lapse in Rovers’ concentration, which led to one moment of quality from £22million striker and joint top-scorer in the league, Aleksandar Mitrović. Whilst the stats themselves would be rather concerning for Rovers given that they were the home team ending the game with only one shot on target, the game overall wasn’t quite as one-sided as the figures would suggest, with Rovers having numerous forays that were stifled out by Fulham. Saying that, neither side would have really complained had the game ended goalless, due to the lacklustre rhythm the game was in. The obvious point of controversy from the game was the ‘goal that wasn’t’, which upon re-watching the replays, would suggest that the linesman got the decision wrong, something Tony Mowbray was less than happy about come full-time. Rovers will have to put this rare lapse at home and go again with a more positive approach as they head into the final 15 games of the campaign, with the playoffs only an arm’s length away.
The league table doesn’t emit the positivity it should, for those amongst the Rovers ranks. After this tie, Rovers, despite sitting in 12th with 44 points and a positive goal-difference of five from 31 games, only sit six points off the playoffs, which – given 7 of Rovers’ 15 games left are at home – should provide some encouragement in the final stretch of the season.
Looking towards the Blues’ next outings, they don’t have to wait long to right the wrongs of this tie as they’re back on home soil on Tuesday 11th February, as they play hosts to an out-of-form Hull City side at 7:45pm. Following that tie, Mowbray’s men make the long trip down to London to face Charlton Athletic at The Valley on Saturday 15th February at 3pm. A week later, Rovers are again back in London, as their busy February continues as the Blues travel to face playoff-chasing Brentford on Saturday 22nd February, in their final ever away trip to Griffin Park. The tie, which many Rovers fans will be hoping isn’t a repeat of last season’s visit, is set to kick-off at 12:30pm, due to it being selected for television coverage on Sky Sports.
