Rovers started off 2021 in the best possible fashion, with a win and a clean sheet to boot, as they played Birmingham City off the park at St. Andrew’s to secure a comfortable 2-0 win which saw the return of dynamic duo, Adam Armstrong and Bradley Dack to the scoresheet.
The first line-up of 2021 saw four changes to the side that fell to a late 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town in the final fixture of 2020. Barry Douglas, Lewis Travis, Jacob Davenport and Sam Gallagher all returned to the side, with Travis returning after a three-month absence. The quartet replaced the injured duo of Daniel Ayala and Ryan Nyambe, whilst Joe Rothwell and Tom Trybull – the latter of whom withdrew midway through Tuesday’s game due to injury – were able to take a place on the bench – whilst Lewis Holtby missed out altogether. There was some necessary shuffle at the back for Rovers which saw Douglas come in at right-back whilst Johnson partnered skipper Darragh Lenihan at centre-back. Among the substitutes, full-back Dan Pike was included in the senior matchday squad for the first time, after impressing on a number of occasions for the under-23s.
As Rovers prepared to enter the hallowed turf of St. Andrew’s for the second time this campaign, they were awarded the kick-off, which allowed Adam Armstrong – who scored two in the 4-0 win against Coventry City, the last time Rovers were here – to get proceedings underway.
Despite the opening ten minutes being relatively quiet, Rovers were able to have the opening chance of the game. An in-swinging corner by Harvey Elliott was met by the head of Sam Gallagher, but the forward couldn’t keep his nod down, under pressure from the defence.
The 10th minute did bring joy for the away side however, as they managed to take the lead within seconds of denying their hosts. After a half-chance was blocked by the makeshift Rovers defence and controversial penalty shouts by the home side were waved away, Elliott was available as the out-ball. The 17-year old was alert enough to spot Armstrong who was peeling off the defender on halfway and he managed to thread the pacey hitman through, as Armstrong has the whole Birmingham half to himself. After making a gut-busting run with the ball, the forward had the composure to cut in from the left and slot the ball home via his right-foot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, as he left Neil Etheridge stranded as Armstrong wheeled away in celebration of the 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Rovers were again on the break. Following a Birmingham set-piece, Elliott picked up the ball and drove towards goal. Despite having Ben Brereton ahead of him as the more sensible option, the winger decided to go it alone from 20-yards, but the effort proved to be catching practice for ‘keeper Etheridge.
Sam Gallagher nearly produced a moment of magic in the 19th minute, but his half-volley from around 25-yards out lacked the required dip. The forward picked up the loose ball around halfway before having the technical ability to dink it over his marker. Instead of bringing the ball down and laying it off, the forward decided to continue his samba skill run by keeping the ball in the air and teeing himself up for the ‘spectacular’, but sadly for him, the ball landed on the roof of the net, rather than in it.
Rovers’ dominance on the ball was beginning to be cemented in this game as they soon created two chances in as many minutes. The first saw Armstrong again beat the offside trap to get through on goal, after nutmegging a defender, but Etheridge was on-hand to deny the frontman a second. After that, the home side once again conceded possession as Lewis Travis tried to tee up Brereton before the Philippine ‘keeper again denied the away side a goal.
It seemed like Sam Gallagher was adamant that he’d leave St. Andrew’s with a volleyed goal given the torrid time he spent there on loan in 2016-17. The forward tried his luck again on the 31st minute as he brought down a throw-in. The forward chested the set-piece into his stride before hitting a first-time effort which scurried wide of the near upright.
Although Birmingham’s first real attempt at goal came in the 37th minute, it nearly provided the leveller. Ivan Šunjić looked to find the bottom left-hand corner from just outside the penalty area, but he managed to produce a fine save from Thomas Kaminski. The job wasn’t done there for the Belgian shot-stopper, as unbeknownst to him an offside Lukas Jutkiewicz came charging in to try and force the rebound home. Although the forward was eventually deemed offside, his shot didn’t even hit the back of the net, as it somehow cannoned back into play off the post from mere yards away.
With the return of Lewis Travis in midfield and Gavin Ward as the match official, there would have been no prizes to those that would have guessed who the game’s first booking went to, albeit being later than probably expected. The 39th minute saw the first yellow card of the game go to Lewis Travis, after the combative midfielder fouled Jonathan Leko.
As the break edged closer, Mr. Ward added on one extra minute before the half’s end, but it proved unnecessary in terms of review as Rovers headed into the break ahead, courtesy of Adam Armstrong’s 17th goal this season, in all competitions.
Aitor Karanka would have been entering his dressing room with a face as red as the Rovers kit. The Spaniard would have been fuming with how his side had lacked control on the game, given they were the home team, and he would have easily as annoyed with the manner of the goal they had conceded, specially as the home contingency thought that they’d been denied a penalty after former Brum defender Amari’i Bell’s lunge in the box went unpunished seconds before Armstrong slotted past Etheridge. The former Middlesbrough boss, whose only promotion from the second tier came with the Riverside club, would have been looking for more passion and desire from his side as well as more quality in possession, given the technical players they had within their midfield, with former Athletic Bilbao midfielder, Mikel San José being the standout.
Tony Mowbray, on the other hand, would have been pleased with the reaction his side had shown after Tuesday’s disastrous events. His side had come into the game and asserted themselves as the dominant party by dominating possession, despite looking more threatening on the counter-attack than they did when holding the ball. Despite Rovers’ good free-flowing first-half display, the gaffer would have been annoyed that his side weren’t rewarded for their efforts with an increased goal tally, given the number of clear-cut chances they had created, so Mowbray would have been calling on his players to put the game to bed in the second-half in order to deter Birmingham from any sort of comeback antics in the second-half.
The second period was soon started, after the 15-minute half-time break, as the home side took the kick-off looking to spark some life back into their game, after ending 2020 on a negative note, following their 4-0 home defeat against struggling Derby County.
Birmingham started the second-half quite brightly, as Jonathan Leko tried his luck after cutting inside, but his effort lacked the conviction and the accuracy as it skewed wide.
Rovers nearly doubled their lead through Darragh Lenihan just after the hour mark, but the centre-back’s header from Douglas’ set-piece looped over the bar.
Tony Mowbray soon introduced fresh legs by making three changes in four minutes. The first pair saw Bradley Dack and Joe Rothwell replace Ben Brereton and Harvey Elliott, whilst the later change saw Tom Trybull introduced for Lewis Travis.
Birmingham replied with changes of their own minutes later as Jon Toral and Maxime Colin came on for Riley McGree and Josh Dacres-Cogley.
After Jake Clarke-Salter’s 76th minute header from a corner flew over the bar, Karanka soon made a third and fourth change on the 78th minute. Adam Clayton and Scott Hogan were brought on, as Ivan Šunjić and Lukas Jutkiewicz made way.
A flurry of yellow cards soon arrived for Rovers with Barry Douglas and Adam Armstrong soon booked for separate instances of timewasting.
That booking proved to be Armstrong’s final contribution to the game, as the goalscorer was soon hooked off and replaced by Tyrhys Dolan.
Referee Gavin Ward probably used these final ten minutes to make up for not sending his Christmas cards out on time, as the game’s fourth booking was soon shown to Iván Sánchez.
After a relatively quiet afternoon, Thomas Kaminski was called upon to deny Scott Hogan in the 88th minute. Rovers conceded possession on halfway as Hogan was slotted through on goal. The former Aston Villa forward looked to use his pace in order to get around the big Belgian, but Kaminski had the composure and timing to pick the ball off the centre-forward’s toes.
As the 90th minute approached, referee Gavin Ward decided to create more enemies from within the Rovers camp by adding on six minutes of added time.
Luckily for Mr. Ward, those extra minutes proved handy for Rovers as Bradley Dack managed to mark the New Year with his first goal back after his year-long injury layoff, in a goal that combined all three Rovers substitutes. After some pressure within Rovers’ box, the visitors broke through Joe Rothwell who, after intercepting a poor pass, managed to burst to safety using his acceleration. The midfielder had the vision and weight of pass to find fellow substitute Tyrhys Dolan who was bursting down the right-wing from inside his own half. The young winger did incredibly well to lose Maikel Kieftenbeld via a chop back, before he wriggled through three Brum defenders, as they tried not to foul Dolan in the box. After Mikel San José managed to flick the ball away from the feet of Dolan, his half-hearted clearance only fell as far as Bradley Dack who had sneaked towards the edge of the penalty area. After the ball broke loose and the midfielder’s eyes lit up, he needed no second invitation to hit a first-time curling effort from outside the box, towards the front-post of Neil Etheridge, which crept in before the ‘keeper could do anything about it. That goal, not only sealed the three points for Rovers with a 2-0 win, but it gave Dack his first goal since November 2019, which came in last season’s 2-1 victory away at Stoke City.
Dack’s effort proved to be the last act of the game, as Birmingham had all the life sucked out of them for the final few minutes of added time, as Rovers wished Brum an ‘unhappy’ New Year!
After all the doom and gloom at the end of 2020, it seems like 2021 is going to be a much better year, (we hope!). In all seriousness, the performance today, given it was away from home, was the perfect response to the terrible display at Huddersfield Town that occurred four days ago. The defensive resilience – albeit against a rather goal-shy Birmingham City side who just have 17 to their name from 23 games – will offer the makeshift defence, Kaminski and the coaching staff confidence that this side are capable of grinding out clean sheets – with this being Rovers’ seventh shutout of the campaign – when they’re full focussed and the individual errors are minimised. Now that we’re officially halfway through the campaign at 23/46 games, it seems as if we’re starting to understand how this side best function. Although this might be a case of ‘one man’s opinion’ rather than a general fan consensus – so, sorry Mr. Mowbray if you’re reading this! – but Rovers’ performances seem as though they improve when focussing on hitting teams on the break through transition, rather than dominating the ball and trying to break down deep blocks. Whilst, of course, not all games are the same and different opponents require different strategies, it seems as though when Rovers prioritise counter-attacking football, they end up with better results and concede less goals as they work from a defensive base that allows the pace and creativity in the side to flourish, rather than a foundation that prioritises possession. Whilst it might seem a bit of a throwaway comparison, given the difference in quality between the two home sides, but the Watford and Derby County performances offer some insight into the debate over Rovers’ playstyle. Whilst Rovers lost the former and won the latter, the match stats at the end provide an interesting point of discussion. Rovers lost at Vicarage Road 3-1, despite having 66% possession and 19 shots, with seven of those being on target to Watford’s 34%, ten shots and four on target. Yet, against Derby County, the lads beat them 4-0, but had more shots despite only holding 37% possession. Whilst there is room for argument and debate, as well as the pointing out of line-up anomalies, it certainly offers interesting viewing regarding, not only the final result and the goals scored, but also the capability of keeping a clean sheet.
Back to today, this win sees Rovers sneak back into the top-half of the league table. After 23 games of the league have been played, Rovers – although remain top of the goalscoring chart with 38 – now sit five points off the playoffs with 32 points and a positive goal difference of +11.
Next up for Rovers are a hat-trick of home games. The FA Cup rolls into town on Saturday 9th January as Doncaster Rovers make a second trip of the campaign to Ewood Park for their 3pm clash. After the Cup, Stoke City and Rovers renew acquaintances only four weeks after previously battling it out at the Bet365 Stadium; that tie is on Saturday 16th January at 3pm. Attentions then turn to another club beginning with ‘S’, in Swansea City who face Rovers in their first midweek game of 2021 on Tuesday 19th January, with the kick-off scheduled for the earlier time of 7pm, to allow for Swansea to travel back to Wales earlier.
