Rovers’ first victory against Cardiff City since 2005 halted the Blues’ recent slide down the table, as Tony Mowbray’s men came from a goal behind, twice, to beat an in-form, playoff-seeking Cardiff City side.
With Mowbray calling for his team to ‘play without pressure’ following Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Leeds United, the boss rotated his side for the midweek clash with the Bluebirds, in South Wales. Four changes were made by Mowbray from the side that battled against Leeds, three days ago. Joe Rankin-Costello, Stewart Downing, Dominic Samuel and Danny Graham all came into the side to replace Elliott Bennett, Joe Rothwell, Lewis Holtby and Sam Gallagher, with the departing quartet being forced to make up the numbers on the bench for this fixture.
As kick-off approached, both teams donned black armbands in tribute to Peter Whittingham, a former midfielder of both sides, who sadly passed away in March.
As 7:45pm ticked onto the clock, play was started at a very wet and slippery Cardiff City Stadium, as the hosts set out to continue their unbeaten home run which stretched back to 25th February.
Despite Cardiff’s good recent form and their solidity at home, it was Rovers who the first chance of the game fell to, on the 10th minute. The ball was ushered out to Adam Armstrong on the left-hand side who ran at his man. The pacey hitman got ahead of Wolves loanee, Dion Sanderson, before zipping in a teasing low ball towards the back-post that only needed a deft touch to put Rovers ahead. Fortunately for Cardiff, the man on the end of the cross was Ryan Nyambe. The Namibian international, who is yet to notch either domestically or internationally in his professional career, had the perfect opportunity to open his account for the club, yet he fired the gilt-edged chance over the bar.
That miss came back to haunt Rovers only four minutes later, as former Rotherham United midfielder Will Vaulks put the hosts ahead on the 14th minute, with his fourth league goal of the campaign. A ball forward into the left-hand channel by Joe Ralls found Will Vaulks who was being edged wide by Darragh Lenihan. Lenihan’s efforts didn’t halt Vaulks however, as the 26-year old spotted Rovers ‘keeper Christian Walton in no-man’s land and tried to chip the 6’5” ‘keeper, first-time with the outside of his right-foot. Vaulks’ gambles, surprisingly for those in Rovers colours, paid off as the effort was perfectly weighted. The ball bamboozled Walton before hitting the underside of the crossbar and nestling accurately just inside the far-post to give Cardiff the lead at 1-0.
Joe Rankin-Costello tried to make amends for the goal on the 18th minute, as he drove inside and released a shot from around 25-yards. Sadly, for the 20-year old, he failed to notch his first professional senior goal as the ball zipped wide.
All of Rovers’ pressure since the goal paid off on the 22nd minute as veteran forward Danny Graham tapped home the easiest goal of his career to level the score at one each. An out-swinging Stewart Downing corner landed perfectly onto the head of Darragh Lenihan. The Republic of Ireland international’s header, then cannoned off the post, before bouncing off Cardiff ‘keeper Alex Smithies. From that point, Graham’s natural poacher instincts kicked in as he tapped the ball into the net from virtually on the goalline to deny Smithies the own goal, and increase his tally for the season to four as he equalled the scoring at 1-1, despite the Cardiff protests calling for offside.
The goal gave referee Matt Donohue the perfect opportunity to call for the perhaps, the most unneeded drinks break in history, as the first-half reached its midpoint.
The 31st minute nearly saw a familiar face come back to haunt Rovers as Junior Hoilett fired wide from close-range. Rovers failed to clear their lines as Robert Glatzel tried to power through the visiting backline. With a combination of ping-pong and head tennis being played in the Rovers penalty areas, the ball finally dropped cleanly for Hoilett whose volleyed effort widely spun wide of the far-post, as Rovers got away with their lackadaisical defending.
Ten minutes later, Robert Glatzel’s threat within the Rovers penalty area saw the away defence breached for the second time in the game. The German forward, who was reportedly a target of Tony Mowbray in the summer of 2019, finished off a move he started, as he got on the end of a cross by Joe Bennett and managed to tap home first-time ahead of Tosin Adarabioyo, from just inside the six-yard box. Glatzel had the ball on the left-wing but played it inside to Ralls who turned and shimmied past Lewis Travis before finding Josh Murphy. The former Norwich City man stopped play dead before finding Bennett on the overlap. The full-back – who was once managed by Mowbray during the 56-year old’s spell at hometown club Middlesbrough – wasted no time in taking a touch as he fizzed a low ball across the face of goal for Glatzel to guide home, as Christian Walton remained stranded at his near-post. Despite furious calls of offside from all those donning the Blackburn Rovers badge on their chest, their protests were dismissed as Glatzel celebrated his seventh of the season which saw the scoreline tick over to 2-1 to the hosts.
That goal proved to be the final action of the first-half, as after four uneventful minutes of time were added onto the end of the period, referee Matt Donohue called time on a packed first-half.
As Cardiff headed into the dressing room, Neil Harris and his staff would have been pleased with the first period that his side had shown. Despite not creating the bulk of the opportunities, the former Millwall manager would have been pleased with the prolificacy of his side, particularly on the counter-attack. Harris, however, would have been earmarking the second period as an important part of their form and overall campaign as he would have been quick to remind his team that they should avoid any complacency, particularly on a wet night, against a team with attacking firepower.
Tony Mowbray would have been annoyed that his side had conceded two ‘cheap’ goals heading into half-time. The boss, however, would have been pleased that his side had dominated the ball for the majority and had reacted to his call to arm and played the first-half ‘without pressure’. Although the Blues found themselves behind after 45 minutes, their first period performance would have given Mowbray and his staff much confidence heading into the second period.
Action kicked-off in the second-half in more ways than one, as the scoreline was drawn level after only one minute of time passing in the second-half. The 46th minute saw Rovers denied a blatant penalty after Dominic Samuel was hauled down in the penalty area. As Mr. Donohue waved play on, Rovers recycled the cleared ball out wide to Adam Armstrong whose cross deflected nicely into the path of Samuel. The centre-forward did superbly to fend off Bennett’s challenge and direct the cross beyond Smithies, into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal to level the scoring at 2-2.
The game soon evolved into a feisty midfield battle, with end-to-end play occurring, but very little chances as a result. That was until the hour mark where a free-flowing Rovers counter nearly saw Mowbray’s men take the lead for the first time in the game. Rovers managed to play the ball out of trouble superbly before a sublime touch from Lewis Travis on halfway saw him leave his marker for dead. The youngster then had the skill and composure to pick out Samuel on the opposite flank with a perfectly weighted ball. The forward’s first touch matched the pass of Travis, yet his finish couldn’t cap off a stunning Rovers move, as the legs of Smithies denied Samuel a brace and his second of the campaign.
With Cardiff on the ropes, Rovers again came forward, this time via a corner on the 65th minute. The set-piece by Stewart Downing landed in an inviting position for Darragh Lenihan to attack. Unluckily, the defender couldn’t add to the three goals he’s already scored this season, as his header nestled into the side-netting.
The 68th minute saw the second drinks break of the game occur alongside a Rovers change, as Elliott Bennett came on to replace Joe Rankin-Costello, at left-back.
A moment of magic occurred on the 70th minute as Rovers went ahead via the sheer brilliance of Adam Armstrong, who notched his 15th goal of the campaign in all competitions, with a strike from around 45-yards that words cannot justify. In an exact replica of Che Adams’ winner for Southampton against Manchester City, only two days prior, Adam Armstrong showed his class by scoring a stunner of his own. The in-form forward latched onto a misplaced pass by Leandro Bacuna and hit the ball first time from just outside the centre-circle. The strike was as pure as ever as it flew over a stranded Smithies and dropped into the back of the Cardiff net, to send all Rovers supporters at home wild. As one might imagine, it’s difficult to summarise pure brilliance in mere words, yet the ‘goal of the season contender’ put Rovers ahead for the first time in the game at 3-2.
Cardiff reacted to going behind, on the 73rd minute with a triple change. Lee Tomlin, Callum Paterson and Danny Ward all replaced Josh Murphy, Will Vaulks and Robert Glatzel, as Neil Harris tried to freshen up his frontline in the hope of snatching a draw or going back ahead.
Rovers made their second change of the evening on the 76th minute as Joe Rothwell replaced Danny Graham, who earnt himself a well-deserved rest.
Cardiff made their final two changes on the 84th minute as their desperation mounted. Gavin Whyte and Marlon Pack were introduced for Dion Sanderson and former Rover Junior Hoilett.
Rovers’ third and fourth changes came three minutes after Cardiff’s alterations were complete. Workhorses Sam Gallagher and Lewis Holtby were thrown on for the final minutes of the game, as goalscoring pair Adam Armstrong and Dominic Samuel were withdrawn.
The game soon fizzled out into a flurry of Cardiff set-pieces and long throws into the box that Rovers dealt with, with consummate ease.
The final real action in the game, before added time saw a Stewart Downing free-kick deflect wide for a corner that Cardiff dealt with, before Lewis Travis earnt the first and only booking of the game after he brought down Lee Tomlin unfairly, in the 88th minute.
As the 90th minute ticked over, referee Matt Donohue added five minutes onto the end of the game due to the goals and the substitutions, yet that made little to no difference for Cardiff as Rovers’ defence stood solid in the face of their set-piece barrage, in order to leave South Wales with three vital points that put their fade playoff hopes back on track.
After a difficult week or so for the football club, with three defeats on the trot, tonight’s result returned hope to any potential doubter and reminded everybody how tight the division actually is. In typical Rovers fashion, a win against playoff-challenging Cardiff almost makes defeats to financially troubled Wigan and relegation candidates Barnsley laughable, yet that’s the reality of the situation Rovers and Tony Mowbray find themselves in. It remains to be seen whether Rovers can capitalise on this positive and make a late dash for the playoffs, given the fact there are only four fixtures left, and teams around them either play each other, or play the top teams in the division, which would signify that points will be dropped for the playoff pack.
Now, Adam Armstrong. What can one say about ‘Mini-Shearer’ that hasn’t already been said? To use a footballing cliché, we’ve ‘run out of superlatives’ for Adam, given his fine form this season. It’s probably fair to say that his goal tonight caps off his best season as a footballer thus far, and with him only being 23-year old, the fact he has 62 goals and 26 assists in 232 senior appearances (in all competitions) is a phenomenal record for a forward player who’s spent most of his senior career shipped out on loan before finding a home at Ewood Park. For those interested in his international exploits, the 2017 under-20 World Cup winner, who also holds medals for the 2014 under-17 EURO and the 2018 Toulon Tournament, has notched 31 goals in a Three Lions’ shirt from 54 appearances from the under-16s to the under-21s. Here’s hoping Gareth Southgate is watching for next summer’s tournament(!)
After this result, Rovers have finally increased their points total from 56 to 59, as they move up from 11th place to 9th with a positive goal difference of four from the 42 games played thus far.
As the regular season draws to a (hopefully) exciting conclusion, Rovers now only have four games left before this gruelling and ‘never-ending’ campaign draws to a close. Next up for Rovers are West Bromwich Albion at Ewood Park. The Baggies will travel to Lancashire on Saturday 11th July for the 3pm kick-off, in the hope of edging closer towards automatic promotion to the Premier League. After that, Rovers make the midweek trip down to London to face Millwall on Tuesday 14th July, with kick-off scheduled for 7:45pm. Following that, Mowbray’s men are back at Ewood on Saturday 18th July for the visit of Reading, as Rovers play their final home game of the campaign where accolades such as Player and Goal of the Season will be announced. After Ewood Park closes its doors for another campaign, Rovers round off the season away at potential relegation candidates Luton Town on Wednesday 22nd July, with kick-off booked for 7:30pm.
The next few weeks will be gruelling for Rovers, yet here’s hoping they can revive their positive form and make a late playoff push to surprise the league!
