After Rovers salvaged a 1-1 draw away at Millwall, Blues boss Tony Mowbray offered his thoughts on what he had witnessed, down in London.
“Only the season will tell us whether today’s point was a good one, or not. I’ve been in football a long time and Millwall away is one of the most intimidating fixtures to play in, especially with it being their first game back after lockdown. The noise that the crowd can generate and the pressure they put on officials in immense, which makes it a tough place to come and play football. I thought, generally, we saw off their threats, but then to go down a brilliant goal as we did, was disappointing, because I didn’t really see them scoring in open play. They were a huge threat at set-pieces, but we saw them off pretty well. I thought (Daniel) Ayala, (Sam) Gallagher and (Darragh) Lenihan were amazing today. Their strength and power shone through against a very physical opposition. We showed some character in getting the equaliser and I think we deserved it, despite the fact we continued to get stronger as the game wore on. We’re pleased to come away from this tough venue with a point and I’m delighted for the players. There are a lot of young players in that dressing room and days like today will go a long way towards standing them in good stead for the rest of their careers.
“I thought we struggled a bit with their physicality in the first-half, but the longer the game went on, the more our players knew what was at stake. We used half-time to remind them of what we are and who we are, as well the supporters who had made the long trip down. I thought we were better, physically in the second-half. I wouldn’t question the physicality of the big defenders or Gallagher or (Ben) Brereton Díaz, but rather that of the midfield at times during the first-half as we second best to a lot of duels. There was a big improvement in the second-half and we got stronger as we grew into the game and I believe that we definitely deserved to take something from today.
“It was great to get a goal off a set-piece after spending most of the game defending them. We do a lot of work on set-pieces and sometimes, fans might not see the evidence of that out on the pitch, but there’s a lot of preparation done behind the scenes. It’s very difficult to reproduce the intensity of the atmosphere, the delivery and the runs required in a set-piece during training, but it was great to score from one today, as well as stop Millwall from scoring a set-piece of their own. Their big forward, (Matt Smith) is massive and was always going to be a handful from set-pieces, as were their centre-halves, so to nullify them from that channel was good. We stood up to today’s challenge and satisfied with a point, so we’ll take that and move on.
“Bezza (Brereton Díaz), will probably end up standing here telling you he learnt that in Chile(!) But in all seriousness, he’s a young lad who’s growing into his body. He’s growing in the confidence of turning into a man, I think. We’re delighted with his work-ethic, never mind the finishes he’s produced so far. He’s got two from the first two league games and we’re delighted for him, as his goal contributed to the team earning a point, today.
“I don’t think Bezza thinks about wanting to be a fan favourite or ‘fill the void’ that Adam (Armstrong) left, as some people have suggested to me. I think wants to do well for himself and the team and the opportunity has presented itself for him. He’s an international footballer, now and that will only help his confidence, which he’s bringing to the pitch. He works extraordinarily hard, both in training and on matchdays, he’s so much better with his own physicality, now, than he ever has been at this club and that’s really helping him as he’s able to stick his backside in and hold people off, before spinning round people. He’s becoming a really good player for us and he’s one, along with (Sam) Gallagher, who nobody will enjoy playing against. I must mention Tyrhys (Dolan), as well as he worked his absolute socks off when he was on, in the first-half. He never stopped running, hassling, and closing down defenders, which is amazing as it helped the rest of the team so much.
“We’ve played two very different teams from our opening two games. Swansea City are an out-and-out football team who like to dominate possession, whilst Millwall are a very direct side who can use their immense physicality to bully you. The crowd inside The Den are always vocal and can sometimes make it seem as if they’ve got tens of thousands of people in here. Their noise and intensity they create is very intimidating and I must give great credit to our young group who have come here, withstood that and come out with a draw, but our attentions are now firmly focussed on Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night.”
