Tony Mowbray’s 200th match in charge of Blackburn Rovers ended in disappointment as his side were unable to build on an unbeaten January, by losing their first February fixture, with defeat in West London coming courtesy of Yoann Barbet’s second-half finish, as Queens Park Rangers claimed only their fourth home win of the season.
As Tony Mowbray was set to take charge of his 200th Blackburn Rovers game, the boss made three changes to the side that ran out late 1-0 winners over Luton Town at Ewood Park, last time out.
Ben Brereton and Stewart Downing have dropped to the bench for this tie, with Sam Gallagher and Jacob Davenport replacing them, whilst Barry Douglas was left out of the matchday squad altogether, following the birth of his daughter, with Amari’i Bell coming in to replace the Scot. – (Congratulations Barry!). Deadline Day arrival Taylor Harwood-Bellis was available from Rovers’ bench of seven, with the defender patiently waiting his opportunity to break into a Rovers side that have recently kept three clean sheets in their last four games. Joe Rothwell was also celebrating his 100th career league start this game as the midfielder looked to continue his fine recent form.
Moments prior to kick-off, after all the traditional pre-match pleasantries occurred, both sides held a minute’s applause to celebrate the life and honour World War Two veteran and NHS fundraiser, Captain Sir Tom Moore, who sadly passed away at the age of 100, on Tuesday.
As Rovers geared to get the game underway through Adam Armstrong, the whole Rovers side and some of the Rangers players took ‘the knee’ in support of ‘Black Lives Matter’, prior to referee Tony Harrington’s first whistle.
Five minutes into the tie, Charlie Austin and Lewis Travis locked horns as Austin pushed the Rovers midfielder in the chest with some force as the pair went in for the ball. Despite some protests from the Rovers contingency, the on-loan West Bromwich Albion forward got away with just a yellow card.
Two minutes later, Rangers managed to craft the game’s first opportunity at goal. After a couple of half-attempts which led to multiple blocks by the Rovers defence, the ball soon dropped at the back-post invitingly for former Rovers loanee, Todd Kane, but the former Chelsea full-back’s first-time attempt was sliced wide of the mark.
The ninth minute saw the game’s second booking as Jacob Davenport saw yellow after rightfully engaging in a 50/50 challenge.
The game’s third booking soon materialised in the 20th minute as Dominic Ball was penalised for tugging on Sam Gallagher’s shirt.
From the resulting free-kick, Rovers managed to create an opportunity as Joe Rothwell teed the free-kick off for Harvey Elliott to cross. The 17-year old’s delivery was cleared out only as far as Jacob Davenport who tried his luck from distance with a volley, however the former Manchester City man couldn’t keep his effort down as it sailed over the crossbar.
Another foul by QPR on the 23rd minute gave Adam Armstrong the chance to step-up and try and find the top corner from around 20-yards out from goal. His dipping effort nearly brought an end to the deadlock, however home ‘keeper Seny Dieng managed to pull out a fine save to tip it behind for a corner, which the home side eventually dealt with.
An increase in Rangers’ attacking pressure saw Ilias Chair cause havoc in the Rovers box, but Everton loanee Jarrad Branthwaite was on-hand to turn the Moroccan’s cross-cum-shot behind for a corner which Rovers also cleared.
Rovers managed to break away on the half-hour mark as Sam Gallagher and Adam Armstrong linked up nicely with the former setting up the latter. Gallagher’s flick saw Armstrong pick the ball up from halfway and burst down the left before cutting in to cause havoc. The forward skipped past a QPR man before his shot cannoned back off the near-post before being deflected behind for a corner, which Rovers failed to capitalise on.
Rovers again showed their lethality on the counter-attack as Armstrong and Elliott combined. After Davenport threaded the ball down the line into the path of Armstrong, the attacker burst forward and managed to get into the box, unchallenged. After picking his head up, Armstrong cut the ball back into the stride of Elliott whose effort from close range failed to hit the target, as the youngster’s attempt flew over the bar.
After Joe Rothwell threaded Armstrong through on the 40th minute, the attacker evaded a couple of challenges before trying his luck from the edge of the area, however the club’s top scorer couldn’t keep his effort inside the post, as it veered wide.
A lofted through ball by Darragh Lenihan into the path of Ryan Nyambe saw the Namibian stand up a cross for Sam Gallagher to latch onto, but the Rovers #9’s effort was skewed wide of the mark despite him not being under intense pressure.
Although Tony Harrington added on two extra minutes onto the end of the first period, they were duly unrequired as the first-half which arguably had more bookings than goalmouth action, ended goalless.
Both sides would have entered the break with mixed feelings after that rather underwhelming first period.
Home boss Mark Warburton would have been pleased that his side had managed to quell a recent poor home run by denying a rather potent Rovers side a proper sniff at goal throughout the first period, however the former Brentford boss would have been lamenting his own side’s lack of chances, especially given the firepower at the top end of the pitch that Rangers had at their disposal. The manager would have been hoping that his side could build on the positive foundations their first period performance gave them in order to grab what would only be their fourth home win of the campaign.
Visiting boss Tony Mowbray would have been annoyed that he hadn’t, as of yet, celebrated his 200th game in charge of Rovers with a goal. Despite his team’s potency on the counter-attack, they were yet to beat Swiss ‘keeper Seny Dieng who had managed to pull off some fine saves, including the one from Armstrong’s free-kick in order to keep his clean sheet intact. Mowbray would have been encouraging his side at the break in order for their confidence and belief in what they were doing to remain high.
After both managers had got their points across to their respective sides, it was QPR who got the second-half underway as they looked to bring an end to their five-match winless home run.
Rovers started the second-half on top, as Lenihan tried to find Armstrong with an over the top ball, but the forward’s attempt was well saved by Dieng.
After some QPR pressure which saw Nyambe block from Austin around the penalty spot, the home side’s intensity continued as they won a wide free-kick on the left-hand side. The lofted set-piece wasn’t cleared by the Rovers defence as it began to pinball around in the penalty area before finally falling for Yoann Barbet whose right-foot finish on the swivel nestled into the bottom left-hand corner as the former Brentford defender grabbed his second Rangers goal, as the home side took a 1-0 lead.
Sam Gallagher was booked on the hour mark, after the forward clattered Lee Wallace.
The 62nd minute saw Tony Mowbray make a triple change, which included a debut for Taylor Harwood-Bellis. The Manchester City loanee replaced Ryan Nyambe, whilst the other two changes saw Lewis Holtby and Bradley Dack replace Jacob Davenport and Joe Rothwell.
The changes almost had an instant impact as Holtby’s 64th minute effort was well saved by Dieng, but the rebound only fell as far as Armstrong whose effort was well-blocked by the desperate Rob Dickie.
An inspired Seny Dieng continued to be determined not to lose his clean sheet to Adam Armstrong as the Swiss ‘keeper again denied the forward with a fine stop. A counter-attack by Rovers saw Bradley Dack tee-up Armstrong, but the forward’s effort from 25-yards out was tipped over the bar via a ‘camera save’, as QPR cleared the resulting corner.
The 74th minute saw both sides make changes. Rovers brought on Tyrhys Dolan for Sam Gallagher, whilst QPR withdrew Stefan Johansen and Charlie Austin and brough on Faysal Bettache and Macauley Bonne in their place.
Four minutes after Dolan’s introduction, Lewis Holtby was forced off injured as Ben Brereton replaced him in Rovers’ final change.
The 83rd minute saw QPR make a third change as Albert Adomah replaced the injured Lyndon Dykes who was unable to continue after a clash of heads.
As the 90th minute ticked over, referee Tony Harrington added on a minimum of six minutes onto the end of the game.
Despite some late pressure by Rovers, they were unable to draw level as the final act of the game saw Albert Adomah booked, before the final whistle was signalled by Tony Harrington.
After 10 points from a possible 12 in January, starting February pointless wasn’t the reaction we were all expecting. Although today’s game proved to be a case of ‘huffing and puffing without blowing the house down’, it’s hard to look past this result as being ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back’, as the Desert Rose Band so rhythmically put it. Whilst some could praise R’s ‘keeper Seny Dieng for being in inspired form, some blame needs to be laid at Armstrong’s door for what is, at his times, over-eagerness to let fly from range. Whilst we all know the quality that the club’s top scorer possesses, it arguably gets to a point where its skill vs selfishness, and although Rangers today played with a back-five which naturally limited space in behind, it begs to wonder whether a different approach could have been taken, rather than outside of the box bombardment. Despite the defeat, it’d be overly harsh to critique the defence who, on the whole, had a rather solid game against two of the division’s top strikers, in Charlie Austin and Lyndon Dykes, however, a split second lack of concentration ultimately shows the fine margins that comes with trying to battle it out at the top end of the world’s most competitive league.
Whilst this result hasn’t caused a seismic change in Rovers’ position in the league table, with Rovers remaining in 8th position, the gap to 6th place Bournemouth has now stretched to six points. The Blues currently sit two places outside of the playoffs with 39 points and a positive goal-difference of +12, from the 27 games played.
Next on the agenda for Rovers is a Lancashire Derby with Preston North End, which will be played at Ewood Park, live on Sky Sports on Friday 12th February at 7:45pm. After that Rovers are back on the road for a midweek clash with Barnsley, at Oakwell on Wednesday 17th February at 7:45pm. Their second game of next week sees them continue on their travels, as they head to the Midlands to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday 20th February at 3pm.
