After Rovers fell to their third defeat from their last six games, which came courtesy of a 2-0 loss at home to playoff-seeking Bournemouth, Blues boss Tony Mowbray gave a hesitant reflection on the game, with Rovers seemingly unable to break their poor form in 2021.
“I thought we had spells in the game, particularly in the first-half. After the first few minutes, where they started pretty quickly, we managed to get grip on the game, and we were generally the team in the ascendency throughout the first period. We seemed to have a lot of half-chances and some shots from outside the box that got deflected and bounced around in the box. I think, when you play against the teams that are fighting for the top six and those that have recently come out of the Premier League, as we’ve found all season, they come out and their quality at the top end of the pitch can hurt you at any second in a game. I think their first goal came out of nothing really.
“We were the team who were huffing and puffing and getting around their box and we played some ‘alright’ football, without being overly scintillating. Yet, out of nothing, the ball broke, and we found ourselves 1-0 in an isolated phase. I didn’t see it coming. It wasn’t a goal that came as a result of intense pressure which sometimes happens. I thought the second-half was quite similar. We decided to go a bit more direct, by using Sam’s (Gallagher) presence. That made the game a bit scruffier and brought about long spells where there was nothing much of note throughout the second-half, but given they had their noses in-front they just had to make sure they were solid at the back, which eventually saw the game run away from us, I suppose. They scored a second, following some poor decisions by our defenders. Despite getting a penalty and having a late chance cleared off the line, we probably didn’t deserve to win the game. Whether we did enough to actually win, I’m not sure, but I thought it was a tight game, but when you’re at the bottom end of the table and you face a team towards the top, that’s the way tight games go, at times.
“I think the top teams in this division have got some individuality that can make the difference. They don’t have to play particularly well or be fluent and they can still win games. That’s what I believe happened today. Bournemouth weren’t particularly fluent, and I didn’t see the rhythm today that I usually see when I’ve watched them play, this season. Generally, when I watch them play, they dominate games with their possession football which allows them to control the tempo of games, but I didn’t see that today. Ultimately, despite that, they’re the ones leaving here with the three points.
“In terms of the table, we just have to focus on winning the next football match. We’ve been saying that for a few weeks, really, because you can’t go this long without winning games, because you obviously need points. I’m not overly concerned to the point where you don’t want to transmit nervous attention to the team, because we can only take things game-by-game. We need to focus on the next game and see how we do at Cardiff City before we host Derby County, the week after that. We’ve got games that, we have to make sure we’re right up for and compete in. We competed today, I believe but, we came up against a recently-relegated team who have lots of very expensive and highly paid players. You have to compete against them in this division, and I thought we generally did that today. I think the 2-0 scoreline is very harsh on our team, but we have to take it on the chin.
“I think we had spells in the first-half where we were pretty good. I don’t think confidence or a lack of it, has anything to do with it, because it’s their job, they have to go out there and play. I thought we played pretty freely in the first-half and I don’t see a shortage of confidence within the group. They put in a pretty good display against a good team, despite coming out of the game on the wrong end of the scoreline.
“I’m not sure what the problem with Joe (Rothwell) is at the moment. He felt something behind his knee. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, that we’re dealing with injuries at this stage of the season. We need to wait and see how he is, because he’s going to go for a scan, so we’ll have to wait until those results come out.”
