After Rovers were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at the Riverside against Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough, Boro legend and Blues boss, Tony Mowbray reflected on the game as his side continued their unbeaten streak away from Ewood Park.
“I feel like we have to be pleased with a point from today’s game, to be honest. Middlesbrough were good at what they do, today. They played on the front-foot, they were aggressive, they didn’t give our midfield a minute to breathe, really. I thought we looked a threat on transition during the first period with the likes of Sam Gallagher and Ben Brereton Díaz who looked like they could score, which we ultimately did. Yet, they gave us problems with their wing-backs and we tried to nullify that threat at the break. The game was very attritional, there were a lot of tackles and headers and we ended up getting pinned back. We managed to see the game out after both red cards, which was pleasing because, in my mind, I was thinking that I’d rather take the point at this stage, than gamble and lose the game. Today was a tough day for us. It wasn’t an enjoyable game; we didn’t control proceedings as if we were going to win. It was a game in which we had to dig really deep. I thought (Leighton) Clarkson and (Ian) Poveda received a welcoming to this division, today. Games aren’t always like today’s was, of course. We will, some days, be much better and dominate proceedings, but sometimes, we’ll have games like today, because Middlesbrough under Neil Warnock try to stop you from playing football.
“The away games we’ve had have been very tough. Millwall away with a crowd, Nottingham Forest away, in-front of over 20,000 people and here at the Riverside against Boro where the crowd baying for blood? I think we’ve had a decent start, especially with the young players we’ve got. I keep telling them after games in the dressing room, that we have to be better and we will be better, but we should never lose the camaraderie and the willingness to fight for each other that they’re showing at the moment. Sam’s goal was great. He’s an amazing athlete. He’s a 6’4” lad who can run all day, at such power and speed and it’s quite unbelievable. He does have a bazooka in his right-foot which he doesn’t use enough, even though I keep telling him that I want to see it more. I’m so pleased for him that he’s managed to shut me up and rifle one in off the inside of the post.
“There’s always a disappointment in any game, where you don’t take all three points after taking the lead. We’re really disappointed with the goal we conceded, given it was from our set-piece and both of our centre-halves were up for it. They just broke away and seemed to run through a huge gap we had left in the heart of our defence. We will deal with that when we analyse the game, but I generally thought we played okay today. I didn’t really think they were going to score, if I’m honest, as with total respect to them, they didn’t have their big centre-forward (Uche Ikpeazu), but they played Matt Crooks higher up the pitch, who although he’s a big lad, he isn’t a natural goalscorer. Boro huffed and puffed, and I didn’t think they were going to get through, but they somehow did from our own set-piece, which was really frustrating.
“I’m pleased for both Sam and Ben, because they’ve both had great starts to the season. We are trying to get them some help up-front. The work-ethic that they put in is amazing, and it’s going to be very hard to keep it going and to keep their numbers high, especially during three-game weeks. We do need to rotate the strike-force. Poveda helps in that regard, but hopefully, we can bring another one or two striking options in over the next few days. Both Ben and Sam will rightly take confidence to the way they’ve started this season. You can see the flashes of Ben and how fast his feet are and how confident he can be. Sam’s strength and power are amazing to watch. When he isolates a defender one-on-one, he doesn’t need to pull out a trick, because he can just burst past them with his speed. They both have wonderful attributes, and we have to find a way to play to their strengths, yet today wasn’t a day where we were able to get hold of the ball in midfield. However, in the few times throughout the game where we did, we looked like we could hurt Boro. When we put a few passes together, popped a few around the corner and set a third man off on the run, we looked like a decent football team, but we didn’t show that consistently today and Middlesbrough asked a lot of questions of us today.
“Daniel Ayala was a man mountain today, who headed every ball and corner. You don’t necessarily get worried when they have a set-piece because you know that Sam or Dan will be there to clear it, which they did magnificently today. Ian showed glimpses of what he’s capable of today, although it wasn’t the best game for him to show his talents. He hasn’t played a lot of football, but he played his part and got the assist for Sam’s goal, which was encouraging. He’s a good player and I see how confident he is with the ball at his feet, during training. We should be excited by Poveda, but days like today, where he has Darragh (Lenihan) screaming at him to get back and put a tackle in might push him to the limit. I’ve said to him that not all the games are going to be like this, as there will be where we’ll have control of the ball and we’ll be able to feed him properly. Hopefully those days will come sooner, rather than later, and I’m sure Ian will light up Ewood Park.
“The game got a bit feisty towards the end and although the red card was a negative, it wasn’t really a negative. That shows that this team are capable and willing to stand up to a team of men. Hayden (Carter) was a bit unlucky with his second yellow, I thought, but he caught their lad (Paddy McNair) with a high boot, and he’d already been booked in the first period for a bad tackle in-front of the dugout. I said to him at the break that I was toying with the idea of taking him off and replacing him with Tyler (Magloire), but I felt that we needed to nullify their wide threats and we kept Carter on in order to match their formation. I kept him on knowing that the referee (Michael Salisbury) would have probably been angling towards sending him off, but on another day, I would have brought Hayden off. We’ll have to deal with his absence after the international break, but hopefully we’ll have had some people through the door by then.”
