Rovers ended their seven-match unbeaten run by running a tired Millwall side ragged, as they overpowered the Lions in their own Den, in order to emerge with all three points, as any confidence that had seemingly disappeared due to the poor form was instantly restored.
With Rovers looking for their first win since January, Tony Mowbray made wholesale changes to the side that lost 1-0 away at Reading in midweek, with six changes coming to the starting side for this clash at The Den. Joe Rankin-Costello, Barry Douglas, John Buckley, Bradley Dack, Tyrhys Dolan and Sam Gallagher all made their way into the starting-11, with Ryan Nyambe, Amari’i Bell, Corry Evans, Joe Rothwell, Harvey Elliott and Adam Armstrong all dropping out. Of the six that departed, four were on the bench, with Bell and Armstrong, the two who weren’t part of the matchday squad.
After the usual pre-match activities, the onus of the kick-off fell to Rovers, who were looking to end their dismal run of form with their first victory at The Den since January 2019, where goals from Adam Armstrong and former forward Joe Nuttall secured a 2-0 win.
The game began quietly with neither side testing their opponent’s goalkeeper despite the extended spells of possession that both sides had at different moments of the first 15 minutes of the tie.
Despite the lack of goalmouth action during the opening period of the game, Rovers were able to get themselves ahead after a fine counter-attacking move saw Bradley Dack grab his second goal of the season, via a deflection that wrongfooted Polish ‘keeper Bartosz Białkowski. Rovers managed to win the ball back in their own half before hitting Millwall on the break. John Buckley, who was midway through the Millwall half, found Joe Rankin-Costello who drifted inwards off the right. The right-back did well to find Dack on the edge of the area, after an off-the-ball run from Tyrhys Dolan created space for the playmaker to run into. Dack received the ball to feel with his back to goal, before an expert swivel and right-footed release saw the ball deflect off a Millwall defender and go down the middle of the goal to put Rovers ahead at 1-0, as Białkowski dived despairingly to his left.
Rovers stepped up their dominance after the goal as on the 26th minute they were nearly handed another opportunity on a plate. Białkowski’s poor clearance fell straight to Dolan, who was lurking in the area, but the youngster couldn’t compose himself enough to trap the ball as it ricocheted back off the winger and went behind for a goal-kick.
Two minutes later, Dolan was at it again as this time he became provider as he fizzed in a low cross from the byline, which was hooked off the line by a well-placed defender in order to deny Rovers a two-goal advantage.
Dolan had a second attempt in as many minutes as he narrowly missed out on converting his third attempt of the game in the 29th minute. The winger zipped past his man with a burst of acceleration and trickery, before cutting onto his right-foot, looking to find the top right-hand corner of the net, but his effort lacked the desired curl as it flew behind for a goal-kick.
Rovers’ pressure continued into the 31st minute as Tom Trybull tried his luck from just outside the area after a Rovers set-piece was cleared out to him. The German came close to opening his account in Rovers colours, but Białkowski unconvincingly palmed the ball away from his goal before his defenders cleaned up his mess.
The 43rd minute brought the first yellow card of this tie as Ryan Woods was cautioned for hauling down Dolan on the counter.
With no action occurring prior to the half-time whistle, Matt Donohue only added on one minute onto the end of the first period before bringing the first-half, to an end, even though Rovers probably wanted it to continue, given their good form throughout the period.
Home manager, Gary Rowett would have been puzzled during the break as to why his side had lacked the urgency and attacking edge that they had shown in their 2-1 victory at home to Preston North End, which came in mid-week. Despite the Lions boss naming an unchanged side, one would have forgiven him for being confused at why his team looked void of ideas and intensity, despite them setting up perfectly to counter Rovers’ strengths, which relied on pace in-behind the backline. The former Derby County boss would have been relaying those thoughts to his side in an attempt to gee them up ahead of a big second-half, in the hope that they could secure back-to-back home victories for the first time since February.
Tony Mowbray, in contrast, would have been delighted with how his side had responded to the changes that freshened up the personnel. It seemed as if the gaffer’s six changes had offered vigour and pace to a Rovers side lacking the natural goalscoring instinct of Adam Armstrong, who was rested due to sore hamstrings. The Rovers boss was using his side’s youth and exuberance to his advantage with Tyrhys Dolan the star man throughout the first 45 minutes, despite Bradley Dack grabbing the headlines with his goal. Mowbray would have been quick to praise his side in the dressing room come half-time, but would have also been wary of warning them of the impact the wounded Lions could have in their own Den.
As Mr. Donohue prepared to get the second period underway, it was Millwall who took the kick-off. The Lions were looking to build upon some mixed recent results in order to get their unlikely push towards the playoffs, back on track during the latter stages of this campaign.
The first chance of the game came in the 50th minute as a short corner into Dolan saw the youngster tee-up Dack whose attempt was ballooned over the crossbar and out of the ground.
The first change of the afternoon saw Matt Smith introduced in-place of Billy Mitchell.
Ben Brereton became the first Rover to be booked in the 56th minute.
A minute later, Matt Smith’s first involvement nearly saw him break the deadlock, but his nod from Scott Malone’s cross was headed wide of the near-post.
Dolan again came close to finding the net in the 58th minute as he was played in by Sam Gallagher who did magnificently well to gallop down the left, unchallenged. The forward found his attacking partner, but Dolan’s shot from inside the area was well saved by the Pole in Goal.
Rovers’ first change soon came in the 62nd minute as Ryan Nyambe replaced Joe Rankin-Costello who had gone down with a bout of cramp in his return to football after injury.
Another Rovers booking came the way of Sam Gallagher after the forward fouled Mahlon Romeo. The subsequent 65th minute free-kick saw Thomas Kaminski forced into action as he saved from Scott Malone, down to his left-hand side.
Two minutes later, Gallagher nearly redeemed himself for putting his defence and ‘keeper under-pressure as he was thread through by John Buckley. The forward then tried his luck with a curling effort that Białkowski did well to save.
Buckley was again involved in the 70th minute when his run down the right-hand side saw him get into the box, before he laid the ball up for Dack, near the penalty spot. After the midfielder made contact with the ball, Stoke City loanee Ryan Woods came in with a fantastic goal-saving tackle which brought protests from everyone associated with the Lancashire club as they appealed for a penalty, yet referee Donohue waved the protests away.
Six changes were soon made in two minutes, with three coming from either side. Rovers were first in the 71st minute and they introduced Joe Rothwell, Harvey Elliott and Bradley Johnson for Ben Brereton, Bradley Dack and John Buckley. Gary Rowett soon replied with three of his own as Shane Ferguson, Tyler Burey and Dan McNamara replaced Jed Wallace, Mason Bennett and Mahlon Romeo.
The changes looked to have helped Rovers more than they had helped Millwall as within 120 seconds of the six fresh faces, Rovers doubled their advantage to two, courtesy of the returning Sam Gallagher who was in the right place at the right time to prod the ball home. Some fantastic pressing by Tyrhys Dolan and Harvey Elliott saw Millwall concede possession to Joe Rothwell who found Dolan. The attacker slid the Liverpool loanee through, down the left-hand channel before Elliott returned the ball to Dolan. The youngster’s first-time effort was blocked into the path of Gallagher who didn’t know a lot about it as the ball deflected into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, via his torso, to make it 2-0 to the Blues.
A few moments after the restart, an altercation between Tom Trybull and George Evans saw the pair booked by Mr. Donohue.
After a rather quiet 10 minutes, the 85th minute saw Rovers have a chance to turn a good performance into a great performance as Tyrhys Dolan nearly grabbed the goal his Man of the Match performance deserved. After some sloppy play within the Millwall backline, Rothwell used his pace to pounce on the loose ball before trying to feed Dolan, rather than go alone, but the home defence recovered well to intercept before Dolan did further damage.
Scott Malone had another attempt in the hope to get his side back into the game late on, but his strike crashed back into play off the post. From the rebound, Icelandic forward Jón Daði Böðvarsson tried his luck, but was fantastically denied by Thomas Kaminski.
As Millwall pushed for a late route back into the contest, Mr. Donohue added on an extra five minutes of time onto the end of the game.
Although Millwall continued to knock on the Rovers door, they didn’t really produce anything worth threatening or worrying Thomas Kaminski – who was soon booked for time-wasting – about.
Rovers continued to run down the clock by making a fifth and final change in the 92nd minute, which brought a milestone along with it. Corry Evans was introduced for his 200th Rovers league appearance in a bid to add some more defensive stability, late on in the affair, with the Northern Irishman replacing the booked Tom Trybull who left the field after a fine display.
The introduction of Evans proved to be the game’s last notable act as the game and Rovers’ poor run of form, were soon brought to an end by the referee.
FINALLY, we have something positive to talk about, post-match! One must admit that seeing the team-sheet at 2pm left some people wondering where the physicality would come from against a side renowned for going to war with their opposition, especially on their own turf, yet despite Rovers doing all the running, it wasn’t in fear of their opponents, but with menace and prolificacy in mind. All 11 of the starters were magnificent, to a man, today, yet Tyrhys Dolan – first-half, in particular – showed exactly why Rovers fans have been revelling about the youngster, both on and off the pitch. The 19-year old winger, who extended his stay at Rovers in February, displayed the pace, trickery and mental capabilities of playing at the highest level, which was even more impressive given the fact he was playing in a central striker role, rather than out-wide where you’d typically find him. His off-the-ball movement, hold-up play and eye for a pass were all top-drawer this afternoon and his performance was basically a goal away from being a 10/10, with 9.999 recurring probably an accurate enough rating to offer the youngster(!)
Despite briefly mentioning it on Twitter after the full-time whistle, there is proof to suggest that Rovers are a better counter-attacking outfit than they are a possession one, given the style suits the players that Rovers hold within their ranks. With the likes of the absent Adam Armstrong, Tyrhys Dolan, Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher all capable of clocking up mileage at eye-watering speed, there is an argument to suggest that allowing opponents come onto us, might help productivity on both ends of the field. Whilst that won’t work in all 46 games of a season, it would certainly help against teams in the bottom half of the table, who Rovers seem to struggle to break down before losing by the odd goal which came via a Fastbreak, as we have seen so many times this season. Not only would that idea go a long way in potentially decreasing the ‘Goals Against’ column, with a heavier reliance on defence, but it’ll also halt the seemingly weekly comments of ‘how have we had 68% possession and lost 1-0?’, as was the case in midweek at the Madejski against Reading.
After seemingly getting back on track, Rovers are now 14 points off Barnsley who occupy the final playoff spot. The Blues occupy 15th place with 43 points and a positive goal-difference of +9 from the 34 games played. With 12 games of the season left to play, it’s a wonder whether Tony Mowbray and his players can galvanise themselves to go on a Manchester City-esque run in order to make a last-gasp dash to the playoffs as we have seen in previous seasons with the likes of Aston Villa in 2018-19.
Rovers are back in action on Tuesday, as Swansea City come to Ewood Park on 9th March at 6pm. Following that tie, Rovers are on the tele as they again play hosts, this time to Brentford on Friday 12th March at 7:45pm, live on Sky Sports. A hattrick of home games is then concluded with the visit of Nigel Pearson and his Bristol City side on St. Patrick’s Day, (Wednesday 17th March), at 7:45pm.
