Victories continued to elude Rovers as their winless run was extended to six games, after a resilient Coventry City side managed to battle back from a goal down to leave Ewood Park with a draw, despite ending the 90 minutes a man lighter than their hosts.
After Rovers’ 3-2 midweek defeat to high-flying Watford, Tony Mowbray made two changes to the side, in an attempt to avoid losing a sixth straight league game. Darragh Lenihan returned to skipper the side, whilst Ben Brereton also came into the frontline as Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Bradley Dack, both dropped to the bench in order to make way.
Once everything was present and correct it was the visitors, Coventry City who got proceedings underway as they looked to bounce back to winning ways following a defeat away at Swansea City on Wednesday.
The first chance of the game fell to the way of the visitors as they managed to craft an attempt after 11 minutes. The ball was laid off into the path of Jordan Shipley who tried his luck from just outside the area, but his left-footed effort flew over the bar.
Rovers’ first sniff at goal came in the 21st minute as Adam Armstrong and Harvey Elliott combined. The latter tried to fizz the ball across goal to Ben Brereton, but Brighton loanee, Leo Østigård, was on-hand to clear the danger.
The deadlock finally came to an end on the 27th minute, despite the game not being classed as a ‘classic’ thus far. Rovers saw an initial build-up down the right-hand side thwarted, before working themselves back into position to go again. Second time proved lucky as Ryan Nyambe bombed down the right after receiving a through ball from Joe Rothwell. The full-back did well to clip the ball in, first-time towards the edge of the area which saw Brereton run onto it, before delicately finishing it into the corner, to make it 1-0 for Rovers whilst also making his tally, two in two.
Coventry thought they’d pegged Rovers back only five minutes later as a wide free-kick from the left-hand side was poked home at the far-post by Østigård, after Coventry won the first contact and flicked the ball on, yet Rovers’ defensive blushes were spared by the linesman’s flag, who deemed the finish to be offside.
The 44th minute saw Rovers earn a free-kick on the right-hand side, almost near the corner flag. Barry Douglas stood over the set-piece and looked to sneak the ball in at the far-post, but the ball came back off the post before it was cleared.
Just before referee Darren Bond added on, one extra minute of time before the break, Armstrong nearly doubled Rovers’ half-time lead, but saw his effort well-saved by Coventry ‘keeper Ben Wilson. After being threaded through, Armstrong went in one-on-one with the goalie, but he couldn’t get enough on the ball to chip it over the on-rushing shot-stopper, as the forward was denied his 21st goal of the season, in all competitions.
After the corner which came following Wilson’s save came to nothing, Mr. Bond called time on the first-half, as Rovers went into the break with the lead for the first-time in eight games.
Despite the game not bursting into life, Tony Mowbray would have been pleased with 90% of his team’s performance, with the offside goal the only concern. Despite the goal not counting, the boss would have been wary of reinforcing the need for concentration at set-pieces, given that seven of the 29 goals they have scored thus far this season, have come from set-pieces.
Mark Robins, the visiting gaffer, would have been annoyed with how easily his side had been broken down. The Coventry boss would have been quick to offer his side encouragement after they had managed to cause chaos within Rovers’ backline on numerous occasions, despite not being able to back that pressure up with a goal.
The players returned for the second-half with Rovers taking the kick-off, as the home side looked to keep their clean-sheet and come away from the game with all three points which would halt their winless run from being extended to six.
Despite the potential optimism Rovers may have emerged from the dressing room with, Coventry were clearly the more hyped up, of the two sides as they came storming out of the blocks after managing to equalise on the 50th minute. Sam McCallum floated in a ball towards the back-post, which saw Tyler Walker outjump Jarrad Branthwaite to the ball, who barely looked like he got off the ground when challenging. After getting to the ball first, the former Nottingham Forest forward managed to angle the ball back via a knockdown into the path of on-loan Leicester City man, Matty James who only needed one chance to hook the ball into the back of the net, as the Sky Blues drew level.
The first booking of the game came in the 61st minute as Barry Douglas fouled a Coventry man.
A Rovers change soon followed less than 60 seconds later as Tom Trybull replaced Lewis Travis.
Eight minutes after Rovers got a booking, Coventry earnt one of their own as Østigård and Lenihan nearly came to blows, as the Coventry man came out of the altercation with a booking.
The 70th minute saw a triple change for the Sky Blues as Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare and Josh Pask replaced Jordan Shipley, Matty James and Fankaty Dabo.
As the game turned into a stop-start affair, Rovers returned with a change of their own of Bradley Dack was thrown on, in-place of Corry Evans.
Branthwaite again came close to netting his first Rovers goal, just as he did in the dying seconds of the last game, but his 77th minute glancing header from Douglas’ corner fell just wide of the mark.
Coventry’s fourth change of the game came in the 78th minute as Viktor Gyökeres replaced Tyler Walker.
Disaster struck for the visitors in the 83rd minute as the on-loan Norwegian was soon given his marching orders for a second bookable offence.
Rovers tried to capitalise on that by adding on the youth, pace and trickery of Tyrhys Dolan on the 87th minute, as he replaced Joe Rothwell.
The game’s last chance came in the 89th minute as Rovers came narrowly close to snatching a late winner. An Elliott cross was met by the head of the lethal Armstrong, however the 20-goal a season forward failed to again make it 21, as his nod dropped wide of the near-post.
Despite four minutes of added time being called for by Darren Bond the official, the game threw up no more chances, as Rovers were left to ponder where their next win would come from, whilst Coventry were left satisfied with a point, given how their game-plan was scuppered by the sending off.
It’s becoming harder and harder to offer summaries or positive points to reflect on when the games lack any ‘off your seat’ moments. Bar the brilliantly worked Rovers goal, which offered us a flashback to the first couple games of the season, when Rovers were ripping through teams, the game lacked any creativity even after the introduction of Bradley Dack, who seems a completely different player after returning from his injury – whether that’s down to his fitness, the system or external factors, it’s a mystery, regardless.
After five games without adding to their tally, Rovers have now moved up to 40 points, but remain in 15th with a positive +8 goal-difference, from 32 games played.
Although to many fans this game seemed like a ‘six-pointer’, the next three games sees Rovers play two of the top six, as they bid to try and emerge from this winless slump. Next up for the Blues is a trip to Berkshire, where they will face playoff-contending Reading on Tuesday 2nd March at 8pm, in a game that will be on Sky Sports. After that, the Blues are again on the road, as they make the trip to The Den, to face the league’s draw specialists, Millwall on Saturday 6th March at 3pm. Following that away double-header, the rearranged home fixture vs Swansea City takes place at Ewood Park on Tuesday 9th March at 6pm, with the early kick-off allowing time for Swansea to get back to Wales before the small hours of the next day.
