Rovers managed to return to winning ways after dispatching nomadic hosts Coventry City, 4-0, in the teams’ first league meeting in over 21 years, as Tony Mowbray’s side turned on the style to grab their second 4-0 victory of the campaign.
The Rovers side that lined-up at St. Andrew’s for the first time this season saw four changes to the side that fell to an undeserved 3-1 defeat away at Vicarage Road against Watford on Wednesday evening. Ryan Nyambe, Daniel Ayala, Amari’i Bell and Corry Evans all departed the starting side, and were replaced by Joe Rankin-Costello, Derrick Williams and debuting pair Barry Douglas and Tom Trybull. Ben Brereton, who opened his account with a fantastic half-volley in midweek, was set to make his 100th club career league appearance.
It was Rovers who took the kick-off, via Harvey Elliott, as the Blues – who were kitted out in Red – looked to try and prevent a third straight league defeat, for the first time this campaign.
The first opportunity of the half fell Rovers’ way as debutant Barry Douglas delivered in an inviting ball from deep, towards the head of Adam Armstrong, but the former Sky Blues loanee was unable to guide the wet ball on target, as it skidded off his head and slithered behind for a goal-kick.
From the 12th minute goal-kick, following Armstrong’s attempt, Coventry managed to build play up from the back and spray the ball out onto the left-hand side which Callum O’Hare picked up. The former Aston Villa man managed to skip past a few Rovers bodies before sliding in Matt Godden who managed to turn Darragh Lenihan at the front-post prior to releasing a venomous strike which beat Thomas Kaminski, but not the near-post.
The 14th minute saw the stars align for Rovers as former Ayr United defender, Michael Rose was sent for an early shower after he pushed Ben Brereton down in the box, as the Scot gave Rovers their second penalty in as many games, before referee Darren England reduced Coventry down to 10 men. Armstrong managed to shelve any doubts he may have had from Wednesday night’s penalty miss in order to right his wrongs from midweek and send Slovak ‘keeper Marko Maroši the wrong way, as the former Coventry loanee potted his penalty into the left-hand side of the goal, to put Rovers 1-0 up, as the striker clinched his sixth league goal of the campaign.
Four minutes later, Rovers ramped up the pressure as both Brereton and Armstrong saw chances flash wide, despite some good dominant play by the two of the visiting front trio.
The 20th minute saw the first yellow card of the game materialise as Barry Douglas was booked for a late challenge just inside the Coventry half.
A minute after Douglas’ booking, Rovers managed to dispossess Coventry from their resulting free-kick and storm forwards once again. Some pinball around the Sky Blues’ box saw Bradley Johnson slide in Lewis Holtby who tried to prod the ball home into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, using the outside of his stronger left-foot. The German managed to force a save from the Slovak ‘keeper Maroši, before the ball rebounded back to the former Hamburg midfielder, whose follow-up skewed wide of the right-hand post.
Holtby again came close to doubling Rovers’ lead on the 24th minute as his header from close range dropped wide of the target.
Bradley Johnson also tried his luck with a header, five minutes after Holtby’s effort, but September’s Player of the Month equalled Holtby’s effort as the ball again missed the target.
Rovers continued to assert their dominance in the game, as they saw another chance flash wide of the Coventry goal, as Holtby again nodded wide of the target from Douglas’ cross.
The 42nd minute saw Armstrong again try his luck from just inside the box, as his volley towards goal was struck straight into the body of Marko Maroši, who again denied Rovers a second goal.
Armstrong’s half-chance proved to be the last attempt at goal in the first-half as despite referee Darren England calling for an extra two minutes of added time to be allocated onto the end of the first period, they yielded no standout goalmouth action, as the referee soon called for half-time.
Home manager Mark Robins would have been disappointed with the manner in which his side had conceded the penalty and also gone down to 10 men. Despite starting the game brightly with some attacking impetus, which was led by Matt Godden’s 12th minute strike against the woodwork, Coventry failed to capitalise on any momentum as Mark Rose was soon given his marching orders. The former Huddersfield Town boss would have undoubtedly been planning during the break for a way for the Sky Blues to limit any further damage that a potent Rovers side may cause, whilst simultaneously hoping that his side can potentially force a mistake out of the visitors in the wet and windy conditions.
Visiting manager Tony Mowbray would have been cautiously pleased with how his side had operated in the first period. Although they had managed to sneak ahead courtesy of the penalty, the former Sky Blues boss would have been sat wondering how on earth his side hadn’t doubled or tripled their lead, given the number of chances that they had crafted, following Rose’s dismissal. The Rovers boss would undoubtedly spend his half-time team talk praising his side, but also reminding them of how vital a second goal could be in such precarious conditions, especially given the early scare they had received, prior to taking the lead.
With both sets of players back onto the field, following the break, it was Coventry who restarted proceedings, as they looked to work hard in order to try and salvage something from this affair.
Coventry’s hopes of salvaging something from the game soon dissipated after just four minutes of the second period as Adam Armstrong grabbed his second of the afternoon and his seventh of the league season. Some good possessional play by Rovers saw Bradley Johnson lay the ball off to Brereton who again linked up with Armstrong, to provide his second assist of the game to the Geordie, as the former threaded in the latter. Armstrong didn’t take too much time to think about how he wanted to shoot as he smashed the ball in off the bar, via Maroši’s arm, to bolster Rovers’ lead to 2-0.
The 51st minute saw Armstrong booked for not allowing Coventry to take a free-kick quickly.
On the hour mark, Coventry made a double change as Maxime Biamou and Josh Pask replaced Matt Godden and Norwich City loanee, Sam McCallum.
Rovers’ first change of the game came on the 61st minute as Amari’i Bell replaced the booked Barry Douglas.
Two soon became three for Rovers as Harvey Elliott scored his first senior league goal of his career with a tidy finish into the bottom left-hand corner of the Coventry goal. Rovers again, continued their efficient recycling of the ball as Rovers again breached Coventry’s fragile defence as Ben Brereton sealed a hattrick of assist by giving Liverpool loanee, Harvey Elliott – who became the fourth youngest goalscorer in Rovers’ history – the easiest of lay-offs, which allowed the 17-year old to sweep the ball home and treble Rovers’ lead to 3-0.
The 64th and 68th minutes saw Tony Mowbray make his second and final changes of the tie as Adam Armstrong and Tom Trybull departed, with Sam Gallagher and John Buckley replacing the pair.
The Sky Blues’ final change of the game saw Callum O’Hare withdrawn, with Gervane Kastaneer replacing him.
The 79th minute saw Elliott deliver in a free-kick from the left-hand side that Sam Gallagher nodded over the crossbar.
Gallagher only had to wait nine minutes to claim his first goal of the season, as Harvey Elliott added an assist to his earlier goal to make it 4-0 for Rovers. The 17-year old linked up brilliantly with Lewis Holtby, as the pair played some mouth-watering one-two flicks between each other, before Elliott broke free down the left channel of the area, before pulling the ball back for Gallagher who kept his composure in a crowded penalty area in order to tuck the ball home into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.
The substitute’s effort proved to be the final action of the game, as referee Darren England put Coventry out of their misery after adding on three minutes of added time that both sides used in order to conserve energy, with the game already done and dusted.
After coming away from Vicarage Road, despite dominating Watford in midweek, it’s nice when things fall your way for once! Although Coventry shot themselves in the foot, after a bright start, following the conceding of the penalty that led to the red card, nobody can deny that Rovers proved to be full value for the three points and the four goals, that could have potentially seen the game end with a cricket score. Given the poor weather conditions, Tony Mowbray and his side will be delighted that they managed to avoid a potential second-half calamity, in a game that, could so easily have gone against them, in previous seasons. The team continued to believe in their style and managed to extend their dominance to all areas of the pitch, in order to see out their third win of the campaign, and their fourth clean sheet of the season. Whilst all the players deserve a ‘pat on the back’ for their sound display, Ben Brereton in particular, is worthy of individual praise. After opening his account for the season, with his first away goal in Rovers colours in midweek, the 21-year old managed to once again show his quality with a hattrick of assists, as he managed to single-handedly tangle the depleted back four of the hosts. Furthermore, the three new signings of Harvey Elliott, Barry Douglas and Tom Trybull, all showed their quality, with the former notching his first senior league goal on his second start for the club, whilst the latter pairing managed to play an important hand in both, propping up Rovers’ attacking quality and aiding in keeping Coventry’s attacking talents at bay. What this game has also shown us, is that Rovers are fully capable of flexing their attacking muscles, both, at Ewood Park and on the road, given that Rovers’ away record before this clash had seen them lose seven of their last nine road games, dating back to March’s 3-0 defeat at Derby County, with the two positive results being July’s 3-2 victory at Cardiff City and September’s 4-0 thrashing of the aforementioned Derby.
After halting the run of defeats, Rovers have managed to add another three points to their tally which has seen them rise in the league table from 14th to 10th. The Blues are only two points off of 6th place, as they hold 10 points and a positive goal difference of +9, from the 7 league games that they have played.
Rovers will be looking to continue and build upon this game, in their next tie which sees them play hosts to current table-toppers, Reading, on Tuesday 27th October, (7:45pm). Following that midweek affair, Saturday’s game sees the Blues travel to Wales, to face Swansea City on Halloween afternoon, at 3pm. After returning to Lancashire, the side will again prepare for a third midweek game in a row, with them set to welcome Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough on Tuesday 3rd November, in a game that will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, at 7:45pm.
