After waiting 126 days for his side’s next win, a socially distanced Tony Mowbray was delighted with the application, performance and fitness levels of his side. Rovers returned to action with a 3-1 home victory against fellow playoff-hopefuls, Bristol City, in-front of a spectator-less Ewood Park and secured the honour of being the only team in the returning fixtures this weekend, to notch-up a home win.
“Today’s three points are very pleasing because it’s felt like a long wait, and a long build-up to the game. The whole situation has been long, first the training, and then getting back together in small groups and gradually building up to today. It felt like the start of a new season, today and I thought we played really well. In the first-half, we were brilliant, but they scored with what felt like, their only attack of the half, which was frustrating because we controlled the game for long spells. They had a couple of bookings early on, and they were playing with high intensity, as you’d expect them to, as they were pretty wound-up after the reverse fixture, but our players matched them and showed great composure. In the end, we won the game pretty comfortably. I don’t think that’s doing Bristol City a disservice, they’re a very good team with talented players, but I’m delighted for our lads because they’ve put a lot of hard work in, both in training and throughout lockdown and the rewards were there for them today.
“The lads deserve huge credit, because their intensity and performance, for the first game in three months, was outstanding. As weird as this may sound, the lockdown was a good time for us to develop and grow, not just as a squad and a club, but as us as coaching staff. We’ve done a lot of work via video conferences and the evidence was there for us today, having only trained together again for such a small period of time. Adam Armstrong came off the bench today and yet he only trained with us for a few of the days were back together because he was self-isolating. He’s not played a game in three months, and although he showed his quality off the bench today, he still has a bit to go before he’s back up to speed. I felt the team we picked today worked pretty well, it gave them threats to deal with, and then to bring on Adam, Danny (Graham) and Dominic (Samuel), who all looked sharp was good, and I thought we could have scored more towards the end.
“It was particularly important to score straight away against this Bristol City team because they’ve won more points away from home, than they have at home. They’re very good on the counter-attack and the transitions because they break very quickly, fill the box with bodies, then they put it in through their wingers. For us to get back in the game as quickly as we did was good and important, because it didn’t give them the lead to hang on to, because they could have just sat deep and waited to counter whilst we huffed and puffed, potentially without getting a reward.
“The two goals in the second-half were fantastic. I was right behind both of them, so I saw them arrow into the corners. We’ve got some quality within the squad. Adam did what he did down in Bristol, by coming off the bench and finishing the game for us again. I’m delighted for him because he wasn’t particularly happy during the week because he kept asking me, ‘how can you leave your top scorer out of the starting eleven?’, but as I said, he missed a fair chunk of the training because he was self-isolating. He’s going to be an even bigger player for us in the future, than he currently is already, but everyone in the squad has their part to play.
“Tosin (Adarabioyo) is a high-quality football player, with a high-quality footballing brain. He sees space and passes. He’s electric when people challenge him speed-wise and he’s 6’5”. All the physical attributes are there for him to be a top-class footballer, he just has to get his mentality right for the next 10-15 years to want it enough. He needs to have the fire in his belly to want to be a high-class footballer who spends the rest of his career at the top of the Premier League, because he has the talent.
“Playing Corry (Evans) today was a tough decision because Johno (Bradley Johnson), who scored in the reverse game at Ashton Gate, has come back fit. Yet, I thought Corry was the better fit for this game. He has a really good footballing brain, he’s able to anticipate and read the play well, and alongside (Lewis) Travis, who brings physicality to the side, they’re a good pairing. We put Stewy (Downing) in there as well because, with total respect to Corry and Lewis, Stewy passes forward and sees the ball over the top for the forwards. I thought the combinations in the team were good today and the changes kept things ticking over.
“To start this block of games with a win is massive psychologically for the group. We’ve got two tough away games next in Wigan Athletic and then Barnsley. On paper, the teams are down at the bottom end of the table and yet, I don’t think they’re as bad as the table suggests. We know Wigan, we’ve been on a journey with them, they’re a very good football team and we have to be very conscious of them. I don’t know how Barnsley did today, but I think they’re a very good football team. They remind me of Norwich City in the Premier League in that, they play good football, and create lots of chances with a really talented squad and yet they keep getting beat. We have to go to both games and be really professional and focussed on wanting to get six points against two tough opponents. We’re looking forward to all the games and challenges, but it was important for us to get off to a good start today, which we’ve done thanks to the hard effort of the players.”
