Rovers kept their slim chances of securing a playoff spot alive after holding a dominant, Premier League-chasing West Bromwich Albion side to a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park in a game.
For the first-time since the restart, Rovers came into this clash with an unchanged team, after Tony Mowbray was left impressed following his team came from behind twice to beat fellow playoff-chasers Cardiff City, 3-2, in midweek.
Just prior to the kick-off, along with ‘the knee’ for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, a minute’s applause was taken to remember the life of one of England’s 1966 World Cup winners in Jack Charlton, who sadly passed away on Friday evening, aged 85.
With both sides present and correct as 3pm ticked over on the clock, the game which hinged massively on the potential futures of both clubs, regarding what division they might be in next season, began after the first whistle by Australian referee, Jarred Gillett.
The first chance of the game came to Rovers only two minutes into the game, as the ball burst down the right-hand side for the Blues. Dominic Samuel broke down the right before delivering a low, inviting cross into Adam Armstrong. Unluckily for the forward, he couldn’t pick up where he left off on Tuesday night, as he stumbled before taking his shot which the Albion defence dealt with, with ease.
The game then became a battle for possession with both midfields being equally combative in the middle of the park, with chances during the first 10 minutes, few and far between.
West Brom’s first attempt at goal came on the 14th minute through Polish international Kamil Grosicki. The former Hull City winger did well to bring down a long searching ball from the back before bamboozling Ryan Nyambe with his dribbling and rifling an effort towards the bottom right-hand corner of the goal. Despite his good movement and effort, Christian Walton was not troubled by the strike as he denied the Pole with a good save, low down to his left. Despite Albion being awarded a corner off the back of Walton’s save, Rovers did enough to clear it.
A few moments later, Filip Krovinović tried his luck from range, but saw his effort well saved by Walton.
Four minutes later, former Burnley forward Charlie Austin tried to stamp his mark on the game with an effort from close-range. Matheus Pereira beat the offside trap to sneak in behind Rovers’ defence before cutting back the ball for Austin who was lurking around the penalty area. Despite Rovers’ lackadaisical defending, Austin failed to punish the home side as his side-footed effort flew narrowly over the crossbar.
After the first drinks break of the game on the 22nd minute, Pereira started causing all sorts of problems for Rovers’ backline and he nearly found himself putting the Baggies ahead on the 29th minute. The Brazilian travelled with the ball to the edge of the area and released an effort that Tosin Adarabioyo blocked behind for a corner that again, Rovers dealt with.
The first booking of the game came on the 31st minute after Jake Livermore clattered into Joe Rankin-Costello on the left-wing.
The 34th minute saw Rovers trouble Albion’s defence and Sam Johnstone. A ball whipped in saw Johnstone struggle to palm it clear. The ball dropped to Rankin-Costello who failed to convert as the ball deflected out, invitingly, towards Darragh Lenihan whose strike from the edge of the area sailed wide of the mark.
From Albion’s goal-kick, they built play up and managed to craft out another opportunity at goal less than 60 seconds after Lenihan skewed wide. Charlie Austin ran between centre-half and full-back before receiving a perfectly weighted through-ball from Pereira. The former Queens Park Rangers forward did well to tiptoe past Stewart Downing’s challenge before seeing his shot superbly denied by Walton who made himself big enough to turn the ball behind for a corner which again, broke down for the Baggies.
It wasn’t long after that save that Albion’s pressure soon paid off for the visitors as Krovinović opened the scoring in controversial fashion. A semi-hopeful ball into the left-hand channel from the Albion backline fell perfectly into the feet of Pereira. Despite vociferous calls for offside on the former Sporting Lisbon loanee, who recently saw his stay at The Hawthorns become permanent for just over £8m, play continued as Pereira broke into the box. Pereira soon dribbled past Adarabioyo and found Austin who played a swivelled cross towards the back-post where Krovinović was peeling off towards. The Croat on-loan from Benfica gave the move the finish it deserved, as he powered home underneath the flailing arm of Walton to give Slaven Bilić’s side the 1-0 lead on the 41st minute.
Rovers burst forward on the cusp of half-time and earnt themselves a deep free-kick which Stewart Downing stood over. The former England international’s set-piece was headed across goal by Lenihan into Danny Graham whose nod towards goal looked certain to draw Rovers level, but for the flailing arms of the retreating Sam Johnstone. The former Manchester United ‘keeper did fantastically well to shuffle his feet across his goal-line and to deny Graham what looked like a certain goal.
After that save and clearance by the Baggies, three minutes of time was added onto the half. Despite the time, it proved unnecessary as no chances appeared, as referee Jarred Gillett called time on an eventful first 45 minutes.
In the home dressing room, Tony Mowbray would have been frustrated with the officials more than his team as he would have no doubt caught whiff of the fact that Pereira’s run that started the move for Krovinović’s goal, was indeed, offside. The boss, however, would have been optimistic in his team-talk to his players as he would have been offering them encouragement, reminding them that they are capable of beating the very best of teams at Ewood Park.
The away dressing room would have had a more tense atmosphere given the fragility of the lead that Albion held at the break. Slaven Bilić would have been wary of Rovers’ good record on home soil, yet he would have been annoyed that his side had failed to make their chances pay. The former West Ham United boss would have been firm but fair in his critique of his side, but he would have made sure to instil his talented group with confidence that would help edge them closer to potentially securing promotion to the Premier League, automatically.
West Brom started the second-half, as they had finished the first as they managed to craft the first opportunity of the second period, only four minutes after the restart. The 49th minute saw Pereira’s shot sting the palms of Walton. The rebounded effort fell to Krovinović who was there to pick up the scraps, yet the Croat’s strike somehow hit the left post and bounced clear before Rovers cleared.
The game’s action dipped with the hour mark seeing some changes from both managers to liven up the game, with Mowbray making changes to try and get Rovers back on level terms. Mowbray brought on four subs in one go as Elliott Bennett, Lewis Holtby, Joe Rothwell and Sam Gallagher were all introduced in-place of Ryan Nyambe, Bradley Johnson, Dominic Samuel and Adam Armstrong, as the gaffer switched the formation up to a 4-2-2-2, with Graham and Gallagher leading the line. Visiting boss Bilić’s double change saw Kamil Grosicki and Charlie Austin depart the field with West Ham United loanee Grady Diangana (who scored in the reverse fixture), and Wales’ Euro 2016 hero, Hal Robson-Kanu replacing them.
It only took four minutes for Rovers’ changes to be proven correct as Joe Rothwell drew parity between the two sides with his first league goal of the season. The lightning-quick midfielder, whose only goal this campaign came in August’s late Carabao Cup win against Oldham Athletic managed to prove recent doubters wrong by drawing the scores level at 1-1. Rovers began building play up, round their defence as they tried to find an opening. That opening came down the right-hand side as Ryan Nyambe played Sam Gallagher in down the right-hand side, who used his fresh legs to gallop onto the end of the pass. Gallagher did well to ease his marker off using his strength, before spotting a free Joe Rothwell who was edging closer to the penalty spot. The forward’s cut-back found Rothwell who rifled the ball towards the near-post, past the flailing bodies of Semi Ajayi and Sam Johnstone to draw the home side level.
That goal saw Bilić make a third change on the 69th minute as former Rovers loanee Rekeem Harper came on to replace the booked Jake Livermore.
On the 72nd minute, Lewis Travis became the first Rovers player to be booked in this game after referee Jarred Gillett had had enough of the midfielder’s persistent fouling on Matheus Pereira.
Three minutes later, Rovers’ fifth and final change saw veteran Stewart Downing depart, and youngster Jacob Davenport take his place.
A break in play during the 80th minute gave West Brom a chance to make their fourth change of the game as former Preston North End forward and Sheffield United loanee Callum Robinson came on to replace Albion’s goalscorer Filip Krovinović.
Two minutes after Albion made their fourth sub, they nearly found themselves a goal behind as Jacob Davenport missed a gilt-edged chance that would have probably given Rovers the three points they were searching for. A counter-attack by Rovers saw Lewis Holtby pick out Sam Gallagher, from the halfway line. The forward, who was on the right-wing, wasted no time as he hit a first-time layoff away from Romaine Sawyers and into the path of the onrushing Davenport. The left-footed midfielder, whose only professional goal thus far, was a beautiful free-kick during his loan spell at Burton Albion, against Barnsley in 2017-2018, only had to curl the ball past Johnstone to give Rovers the lead. Unfortunately for Davenport, he failed to open his Rovers account as his effort was straight at Johnstone who managed to tip the ball behind for a corner that the Albion defence dealt with.
The drama did not stop there as on the 84th minute, Rovers again came within inches of going ahead for the first-time in the game. Rovers broke down the left-hand side through Rothwell who cut inside and played a deft through-ball into the path of Lewis Holtby. The former German international, who was under pressure elected to try and cut the ball back for Gallagher, rather than shoot, but Gallagher’s spin to get away from Robinson failed as he was clipped by the substitute. Despite referee Gillett waving play on, Rothwell picked up the scraps and beat four Albion men with a through ball into Holtby, who was onside due to Kyle Bartley’s presence on the line. The through ball made it through to the German who could only connect with a backheel, but despite his flick beating Johnstone, it didn’t get past Bartley who was on-hand to mop up and clear the danger, much to Rovers’ disbelief.
Semi Ajayi grabbed his side’s second yellow card of the game on the 90th minute as he fouled Joe Rothwell.
Despite five minutes of added time being allocated, the goalmouth action ended for this game, yet the action itself did not as the 92nd minute saw tempers flare on the touchline between Rovers skipper Darragh Lenihan and Baggies boss Bilić. The pair clashed over the ball as they disputed over the direction of a throw-in. As a result of their ‘handbags’, the pair picked up yellow cards for their troubles.
That rather pantomimic scene proved to be the final act of the game, as both sides had to settle for a point apiece, after Lewis Travis was named club sponsor’s Man of the Match.
After three defeats on the bounce in the earlier games post-lockdown, it feels nice to see the team in a rhythm and taking confidence from Tuesday’s win at Cardiff City, knowing that they are capable of coming up and challenging the best in the division. Some credit has to be given to Tony Mowbray today, as well, for his seemingly inspired substitutions that changed the game. One thing’s for sure after this result, is that Rovers are not going to lay down and let the playoffs disappear out of their reach without a fight.
With this result, Rovers have equalled last season’s points tally with three games to spare. They currently occupy 12th place, with 60 points and a positive goal difference of four from the 43 games they have played.
Although Rovers will want to have one eye on the playoffs, they need to remain focussed on their next game, which is on Tuesday 14th July, away at Millwall. Although Mowbray’s men might be buoyed by the fact The Den will be empty, they must remain focussed on the task at hand so that come kick-off at 7:45pm, they can concentrate on the task at hand against a playoff-chasing rival. The penultimate game of the campaign sees Mowbray’s men return to Ewood Park on Saturday 18th July where Reading will be the 3pm opponents. Whilst this is the final home game of the season, it will mean no less to the team if 6th place remains within reach. Finally, the Sky Bet Championship’s regular season will (hopefully) end on a high for Rovers as they travel down to face Luton Town on Wednesday 22nd July at 7:30pm. The Blues, who end the season at Kenilworth Road will be hoping that, if there is some final day drama, they can come out on top of it.
