The joint highest-scoring game of the season so far, saw Rovers fall on the wrong side of the scoreline, as a rampant Reading side continued their fine unbeaten start to the season, to brush the Blues aside at Ewood Park, as the home side fell to their second successive home defeat.
Tony Mowbray’s team selection saw two changes to the side that ran out comfortable 4-0 victors over Coventry City at the weekend. Aynsley Pears came in between the sticks for the hosts, as he made his debut for Rovers in-place of Belgian, Thomas Kaminski who was ruled out of the tie against the Royals with a groin injury. The second Rovers alternation came in midfield, as Corry Evans returned to the side, at the expense of Bradley Johnson who – like Kaminski – was ruled out with an injury.
As both sides prepared for the 7:45pm kick-off, it was Reading who won the coin toss with referee David Coote, as they took the kick-off, in the hope that they can continue their fine start to the season which has seen them thus far, go unbeaten, with six wins and a draw from the seven games they have played.
Much to the surprise of the privileged few inside Ewood Park and the thousands watching in their homes, the visitor’s kick-off led to the game’s first goal which materialised after only 9 seconds. A seemingly harmless long-ball up from the Reading kick-off saw debutant Pears come and try and claim the ball. The ball landed earlier than expected as home debutant Barry Douglas tried to shepherd the ball back to the keeper. The early descending ball unfortunately bounced off the heels of Douglas, leaving Pears stranded in No Man’s land, instantaneously into the path of Reading’s frontline, as forward Yakou Méïté, who only the simple task of sweeping the loose ball home – off of Lucas João’s backheel assist – to put his side 1-0 up, courtesy of the quickest goal of the league season, so far.
Rovers weren’t going to lie down and take such tomfoolery so early on in the game, as they managed to restore parity on the scoresheet after just three minutes of play. Adam Armstrong made it three goals in the space of a week as he latched onto the talented Harvey Elliott’s cross to pull Rovers level. The young Liverpool loanee managed to pick up the ball down the right-hand side and skip beyond a couple of Reading players before delivering a sumptuously inviting cross towards the Blues’ ‘Angel of the North’. Armstrong wasted no time in admiring Elliott’s cross as he expertly managed to tiptoe away from the Reading defence and expertly divert the ball home, inside the front-post, with a half volley that not only drew Rovers back level at 1-1, but saw him reach eight league goals for the season and 20 goals in the calendar year of 2020!
The game slowed down as the minutes ticked on, with Lewis Holtby being the first recipient of a booking in this game. The German saw his name go into the book following, a late challenge on Omar Richards, in the fourth minute.
Holtby was soon on the charge down the other end as he saw his effort from the edge of the Reading box, narrowly skew wide of the right-hand upright.
The goalfest continued during the opening quarter of an hour, as the 15th minute saw Reading re-take their lead, following some horrendous defending by Rovers. A throw-in for the visitors saw the home side’s defence go to sleep as they tried to press with a high-line. A Joe Rankin-Costello tackle on Benfica loanee Alfa Semedo, saw Reading utilise the advantage Mr. Coote gave them, as they burst forward with Michael Olise spearheading the attack. The continuation of play saw the ball fall to Olise who used his pace to break free of Derrick Williams’ late lunge, before firing the ball low, beyond the debuting Pears to restore the visitor’s lead at 2-1.
A quick-fire double soon materialised for the visitors, who continued their fine start to both, the game and the season, by creating a cushion between themselves and Rovers by notching a third goal. Omar Richards managed to work some room down the left to deliver a cross that was cleared by the shaky Rovers backline. That half-hearted clearance only fell as far as former Shrewsbury Town midfielder, Josh Laurent who managed to curl in his first Royals goal, as his effort from just outside the box, beat Pears and nestled into the back of the net, via the right-hand upright.
Rovers’ booking doubled to two on the 20th minute as Tom Trybull became the second Rovers player – and second German – to be yellow carded.
The 42nd minute saw Rovers craft their best chance of the game since the goals. Elliott and Rankin-Costello combined, with the former feeding the latter who stood up a cross towards the back-post. The receiver of the delivery was Ben Brereton who tried to grab his fourth assist in two games as he nodded the ball back towards Armstrong, but the Geordie forward’s subsequent header at goal was well saved by former Napoli goalkeeper, Rafael Cabral.
That Armstrong opportunity proved to be the final attempt of a whirlwind first-half, as after David Coote added on two unnecessary minutes onto the end of the first period, the referee brought the rather bamboozling first-half to a close.
If there’s one place everybody would have liked to have avoided, over the next 15 minutes, it would have been the Rovers dressing room, as Blues boss Tony Mowbray would have not been happy with the performance that he had just witnessed. Whether it was from the rather confusing first goal, or the uncharacteristic defending for the second and third goal, the boss would have undoubtedly had a lot of choice words for his players during the half-time break. Whilst their defending could have been described using a thesaurus, Rovers’ attacking play has been more attractive, without the prolificacy required to battle their way back to parity, and Tony Mowbray would have been carefully displaying his plan of action that would help turn those chances into goals.
Some, however, would have forgiven the visitors if their changing room would have had a party-like atmosphere, after such a barnstorming start to the game which saw them burst ahead at breakneck speed. The former Chicago Fire boss, Veljko Paunović, would have been delighted that his side had not only continued their strong start to the campaign, but also showed the character and desire that top teams in this division need, to overcome the adversity of conceding more or less, straight after opening the scoring. The Serbian would have been pleased with how his side managed to put pedal to the metal and give themselves a cushioned lead, whilst also managing to keep a seemingly free-scoring Rovers at bay, following their increase in chances towards the end of the first-half. Paunović would, however, been quick to warn his side of Rovers’ three-pronged attack and remind his side that the battle was not won yet, with another 45 minutes left to play.
With both managers’ respective team-talks complete, both sides returned to the pitch with Rovers set to kick-off the second period with their fourth restart of the game. The hosts, who have blown ‘hot and cold’ on home soil this campaign, will be hoping that they can use Mowbray’s words of wisdom, and their quality to overcome the rather unexpected deficit that they found themselves in at the interval.
The 53rd minute saw Rovers craft the first chance of the second period as Barry Douglas and Ben Brereton combined down the left-hand side. Douglas managed to receive the ball back from Brereton before delivering a deep cross that beat Rafael, as Armstrong came within inches of tapping it home at the back-post. Sadly, for the forward, he couldn’t grab his second brace in as many games as the cross proved slightly too fast for him, as the forward slid into the net, with the ball rolling behind for a goal-kick.
Tony Mowbray soon turned to his bench on the 62nd minute as he withdrew Corry Evans and replaced him with Sam Gallagher.
Adam Armstrong managed to atone for his earlier misses by grabbing the header he should have scored in the first-half, on the 66th minute. Joe Rankin-Costello managed to receive the ball in an advanced position down the right, before whipping in a delightful ball which Armstrong managed to connect with via a diving header. The forward, after bursting beyond his man, managed to effectively leap towards the ball and guide his header beyond Rafael and into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal to score his ninth league goal of the campaign and give Rovers a fighting chance at 3-2, with just over 20 minutes of the game left to go.
Reading ‘keeper Rafael Cabral found himself in the referee’s book after he was cautioned for timewasting.
The 77th minute saw Pears called into action to deny his own player, in Derrick Williams, from scoring a fourth for the visitors. A cross in from the left-hand side saw Williams try and track back but fail to break in-time as he forced a fine stop from the debutant.
Three minutes later, Lewis Holtby tried to unlock the door that would allow Rovers back into the game, as he beat a couple within a congested Reading half, before releasing a right-footed effort towards goal. Sadly, for the German, he couldn’t open his league account for the campaign as Rafael managed to swat the ball away to his left at the expense of a Rovers corner, that the visitors cleared.
The 81st minute saw Tony Mowbray play all the cards in his hand, as he introduced John Buckley and Tyrhys Dolan for Lewis Holtby and Ben Brereton.
Mowbray’s attacking gamble with his changes soon came back to haunt him, as the boss’s one-time transfer target – and former loanee – Lucas João managed to grab the goal that his performance, both deserved, and that killed the tie off, with only seven minutes to go. After some pinball on halfway, Darragh Lenihan sold Buckley short with a chested pass, as João who was being played onside by Williams, was threaded through by Semedo, as the attacker stormed forward as the only Reading player inside the Rovers half. The Portugese managed to lead the visitor’s counter-attack as he managed to composing himself, amid Williams’ attempt at closing him down, before slotting the ball past the despairing Pears to add a goal to his previous assist for fellow forward Yakou Méïté, as the game was put to bed at 4-2, with the goal capping off a disastrous defensive display from the hosts.
As the fourth official signalled for six extra minutes to be added onto the end of the tie, Armstrong came close to grabbing his second hattrick of the season, on the 90th minute, but again saw himself denied by the Brazillian, Rafael. A low cross by Rovers saw Armstrong connect with it with the faintest of touches, which forced the shot-stopper into a low save, in order to claw the ball away and keep a two-goal cushion between the two sides.
Despite the addition of six extra minutes, they ultimately proved pointless for Rovers, as they came away from Ewood Park, exactly that. After a lot of huffing and puffing from the home side, as the visitors fought tooth and nail to keep the ball out of their own box, David Coote called an end to a brilliant fixture for the neutral, but one which Rovers fans might end up looking back on as a template for their season.
Although we are still less than ten games into the season, this kind of performance where Rovers dominate all areas, bar the scoreline, is quickly becoming a frightening reality. After ending tonight’s game with 66% possession, and 13 shots with six being on target to Reading’s 34%, five shots with four on target – (all of which were their goals!) – you can forgive the fans for being a bit agitated, after the same thing happened six days ago, against Watford. Although the Hornets were seemingly a different proposition to the Royals, it seems like tonight’s visitors to Ewood have proved their worth as the table-toppers against the ‘free scorers’ of the division. Away from the Royals, Rovers were almost offering fans flashbacks to the side of 2018-19 and 2019-20, with the devastating defensive performances they put on for the fans watching at home. Putting the first goal aside, which can arguably be put down to Barry Douglas’ being at the wrong place at the wrong time, given the ball deflected off his heel, whilst he was running, the second and fourth goals proved that Rovers are not yet capable, or comfortable enough defensively to play with a high backline, regardless of how high the forwards want to press. On top of that, Rovers weren’t helped by poor individual performances, with Joe Rankin-Costello springing to mind. Although the utilityman redeemed himself with an exquisite cross for Armstrong’s second goal, the young man’s defensive performance was left wanting tonight, with Reading’s pace going forwards being the main factor – alongside his below-par positioning – in why Rankin-Costello suffered on the defensive end. Without wanting to sound harsh on the debutant, Rovers really missed the authority of Thomas Kaminski tonight, with replacement Aynsley Pears having a debut to forget, given his lack of communication with the first goal, especially. Although, like Rankin-Costello, the ‘keeper redeemed himself slightly with a fine stop to deny Derrick Williams, Pears will certainly want to put this game behind him as quickly as possible. What we know for sure however, is that a lot of work is required, both off the ball defensively and on the ball to break down deep teams.
Rovers’ ‘yo-yo’ season continues, with them once again finding themselves in the bottom-half of the table. Tony Mowbray’s side occupy 12th place after this defeat, despite still remaining as the division’s highest scorers. Rovers sit on 10 points from 8 games, with a positive goal difference of +7.
Looking at what’s to come for the Blues, Mowbray’s men next find themselves in Wales, where they will face Swansea City on Halloween afternoon at 3pm. After that tie, Rovers are back in Blackburn to host back-to-back fixtures, with the first being against Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough which will be on Tuesday 3rd November, at 7:45pm – on Sky Sports – whilst the second game sees them welcome out-of-form Queens Park Rangers to Ewood Park on Saturday 7th November at 3pm.
