Rovers’ Easter continued to be one filled with everything but joy and happiness as they fell to their 18th defeat of the season as Bournemouth continued their charge towards securing a playoff spot.
After Good Friday’s disappointing 1-0 away defeat to relegation-threatened Wycombe Wanderers, Tony Mowbray shuffled his pack by making four changes to the side that lost last week. Ryan Nyambe, Bradley Johnson, Tyrhys Dolan and Adam Armstrong all returned to the side, as the injured Joe Rankin-Costello fell out of the side, whilst Lewis Holtby, Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher all dropped to the bench.
With everything present and correct prior to the Easter Monday kick-off, it was Bournemouth who won the coin toss with referee Darren Bond as they looked to try and continue their late rally towards the playoffs in a bid to make a swift return to the Premier League, at the first time of asking.
Although Bournemouth started the game with their tails up as they put Rovers under pressure inside the opening few minutes with multiple set-pieces, Rovers managed to force a counter-attack in the 10th minute, but saw their chance scuppered by a controversial offside. 18-year old Harvey Elliott managed to pick out Adam Armstrong with a superb ball over the top, but despite the returning forward only having Asmir Begović to beat, his run was cut short by the linesman’s flag.
On the 14th minute that Rovers pairing struck again as the Liverpool loanee played the Geordie in down the line via a free-kick. Armstrong tried to turn provider as he attempted to cut the ball back for Tyrhys Dolan, but the visiting defence managed to put the ball behind for a corner. From the corner, which was played short, Elliott again tried to stamp his authority over the tie with an effort from range, but the winger couldn’t keep his effort down.
On the 23rd minute, Rovers were forced to make their first change of the game after Joe Rothwell picked up an injury where he was unable to continue. After the playmaker hobbled off, he was replaced by German midfielder, Lewis Holtby.
The deadlock was soon broken in the 29th minute after Bournemouth’s build-up play from a counter-attack carved Rovers open. After Adam Smith dispossessed Barry Douglas on halfway, the right-back burst forward down the right, before finding Philip Billing who picked out Jefferson Lerma. The Colombian did well to find Arnaut Danjuma who had appeared on the left-hand side. The Nigerian-born Dutchman then did well to cut inside onto his right-foot after fooling a few defenders with some stepovers, before seeing his shot blocked by Darragh Lenihan. Rovers’ rotten luck of the last few weeks continued as the ball deflected straight into the path of Philip Billing who needed no second invitation in order to slot the visitors into a 1-0 advantage, with his third goal in as many games.
Rovers tried to rally in the 31st minute as Bradley Johnson found Lewis Holtby with a cross but the German could only force a save from the Bosnian ‘keeper Begović. As Bournemouth failed to clear their lines, Rovers recycled the ball back into their final third so that Armstrong could try his luck from the edge of the area, but his effort was well-blocked by the resilient Bournemouth defence.
Nine minutes later, Harvey Elliott again tried his luck following a Rovers corner, which was cleared out to him. Despite picking up the ball from around 25-yards out, he tried to curl an effort towards goal like he did at home to Millwall, but Begović did well to deny the loanee.
As half-time approached, referee Darren Bond added on an extra two minutes of time, which made up for the Rovers injury and substitution.
Added time brought no goalmouth action as the half was soon brought to an end, with Rovers struggling to keep up with Bournemouth’s quality.
Tony Mowbray would have been scratching his head during the break as to how his side were behind, despite having most of the ball at 53% and the chances at goal. Despite losing an influential attacking player in Joe Rothwell early in the first period, Rovers would have been using the break in order to regroup and try and go over what went wrong in terms of the goal, in the hopes of being able to come back in the second-half and recoup some pride in what has been a dismal second-half of the season.
Jonathan Woodgate in the opposing dressing room would have been pleased with how his side had weathered the Rovers storm, but also how with how clinical his players were up the other end. Despite sneaking ahead due to an error on Rovers’ part, when Barry Douglas was dispossessed on halfway, the play following that received the finish it merited as Bournemouth showed why they were tipped for a swift return to the Premier League, with ruthless attacking play. The former Middlesbrough boss would have been drilling concentration into his players, with Rovers being known to play better after the first 45 minutes, as the Cherries looked to continue their charge towards the playoff spots.
After both managers had concluded their team-talks, the sides returned to the field, as Rovers looked to get the second-half underway. The Blues were hoping to use their home advantage and their typical second-half superiority to try and half their terrible run of form which has only seen one win from their last 13 games.
In the 51st minute Bournemouth were given two bookings in quick succession as Jefferson Lerma and Dominic Solanke both picked up yellows for fouls on Lewis Holtby.
Rovers were awarded a free-kick four minutes later when Bradley Johnson was brought down outside the area. The subsequent free-kick was taken by Armstrong, but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
After the free-kick, Rovers made their second change of the afternoon as Sam Gallagher replaced Tyrhys Dolan.
Rovers had their best chance of the game in the 63rd minute when a ball that was floated into the box was met by the head of Sam Gallagher who was looking for an assist. After Gallagher delivered the knockdown, the ball bounced past two Bournemouth defenders who got in the way of each other as Johnson faked an attempt to go at the ball which saw it run through to Armstrong. The forward did well to bring the ball down with his touch before his half-volley was skewed wide of the left-hand post.
Bournemouth made their first change in the 69th minute as Jack Stacey replaced David Brooks.
The game’s final nail in the coffin came in the 75th minute where Arnaut Danjuma replicated his heroics from the opening day of the season, by grabbing a goal against Rovers. After the Blues failed to clear their lines, former Preston North End midfielder, Ben Pearson managed to claim an assist by pirouetting past a Rovers man before the loose ball was picked up by the Dutchman. Danjuma then showed his class by getting beyond his man via a nutmeg, before opening up his body and finding the right-hand corner of the net to secure the three points for the Cherries at 2-0.
In the 78th minute, Harvey Elliott and Ben Pearson were caught in a scuffle after the Liverpool loanee reacted to the Bournemouth man’s pressure on the touchline. After Elliott tried to hold Pearson off, Elliott’s temper got the better of him as he turned around and pushed Pearson to the floor, who went down holding his face in a bid to force a sending off. Thankfully, from a Rovers perspective, Mr. Bond wasn’t fooled by such antics as Elliott was only given a yellow for the heated reaction.
A triple change for Rovers was lined-up on the 79th minute as Stewart Downing, John Buckley and Elliott Bennett replaced Tom Trybull, Harvey Elliott and Ryan Nyambe.
John Buckley’s impact on the game proved almost instant, as two minutes after coming on, he latched onto a flick-on from Holtby and tried his luck with a half-volley from just outside the box. Despite striking it cleanly, it lacked the accuracy to find the top right-hand corner as it narrowly evaded the corner between the bar and the post and went over the bar.
The 82nd minute saw Bournemouth make their second change of the tie as Sam Surridge replaced Dominic Solanke.
As the 88th minute ticked over, Bournemouth made their final change as Diego Rico came on in-place of Arnaut Danjuma.
With 90 minutes on the clock, six minutes was allocated onto the end of the game, which, in-truth, only prolonged the inevitable for Rovers.
Rovers thought they were given a slim lifeline in the 93rd minute when Sam Gallagher was deemed to have been brought down by Adam Smith. After Darren Bond gave the penalty, the onus fell on Adam Armstrong to try and get Rovers back into the game at such a late stage, with them having enough time to potentially fight back for a draw. Sadly, for Rovers, luck continued to evade them as Armstrong saw his spot-kick saved by Begović, who guess correctly and denied the striker his 50th Rovers goal by making a good save with his feet.
Although they were hit with a setback, Rovers continued to push in the closing stages and were given a lifeline when a ball into the area dropped the way of Bradley Johnson who had an open goal to aim at. Despite getting his shot away after controlling on his chest, Bournemouth skipper Steve Cook did brilliantly to recover back onto his line and keep his side’s clean sheet intact with a goal-line clearance.
That mad couple of minutes in added time proved to be the last opportunity for goals to be scored in the game as Rovers were again left disappointed at the final whistle, wondering how things might have been had luck been in their favour.
Rovers have now not scored a goal from open play, in 450 minutes of football. That’s five games, with the last goal from open play coming courtesy of Bradley Dack, in the 1-1 home draw against Swansea City.
Whilst that’s never a stat to be proud of, it also shows how hurt Rovers are when their goalscorer(s?) are off the boil. We’ve always said, even harking back to the days of Grant Hanley and Shane Duffy; that even if our defenders aren’t performing to the standard we expect, or they’ve been unlucky with a certain game or moment, our strikers will always bail them out to sneak a draw or a win. Sadly, it’s hard to see how that’s the case at the moment when all the luck(?) seems to be going against us, with today’s penalty being a prime example of that.
Rovers’ plummeting second-half of the season has seen them set-up shop in 17th, with 46 points from the 40 games they’ve played, despite a positive goal-difference of +5.
The upcoming fixtures for Rovers see them tackle two away games sandwiched either side of a home game. The first away game has Tony Mowbray’s men travel to Wales where they will take on Cardiff City on Saturday 10th April at 3pm. After that clash, the team return to Ewood Park to host Derby County, a week later on Saturday 17th April at 3pm. Three days later, Rovers are on the road again as they make the trip across the Pennines to face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Tuesday 20th April at 7pm.
