After Rovers failed to hold onto their 2-0 lead as Luton Town came back to draw 2-2, boss Tony Mowbray offered his thoughts on his side’s collapse to RoversTV.
“We’re all disappointed that we haven’t been able to hold onto the victory. I was really proud of the performance because the lads executed everything, we’d prepared for perfectly against a side who are very physical and imposing who ask physical questions of you. I need to get it out of the way at the start of this interview; the officiating was abysmal, from start to finish. His performance was encapsulated by the fact he went off injured towards the end. I thought he overly impacted the game when, ideally, the best referees are the ones you don’t notice, yet it felt like he was the main event. Away from him, we’re left disappointed that we were unable to see it out. Good luck to Luton Town, they are a really honest hard-working team who fought for every ball and every tackle. Our young lads also did and if I was a Rovers fan, I would have been happy with the effort and the desire of the team, but we ultimately should have put the game to bed. It shouldn’t have mattered that they got one back, because we shouldn’t have been clinging on towards the end. We’re ultimately frustrated because we’ve let three points become one.
“We should have put the game to bed in the second-half. We had an effort come back off the post, then Ben (Brereton Díaz) has run through and had his effort saved, but then Sam (Gallagher) has run through and fails to convert the rebound. We required a bit more composure in that move because it really should have been a third. The shots shouldn’t be hitting the bodies in-front of you, they should have lifted it above them, or slid it past them into the corner. We have to be more clinical and more efficient, because if one of those chances goes in, the game’s finished and we can relax. It wasn’t to be, unfortunately, but we have to give Luton some credit. I watched their game against West Brom back this week, where although they had gone 3-0 down, they brought it back to 3-2 and had many chances cleared off the line. They go for it, at the end of matches, and you have to try and deal with them, as the defending team because they commit lots of bodies forward. We needed to deal with them better. The midfielders need to track their runners, because they provide cover for the lost header, which we should have won, if I’m honest. If we see that attack off, the game’s done and we’re stood here talking about a great performance and three points. That wasn’t to be and unfortunately, we’re all left frustrated. I told them in the dressing room, how proud I was of their performance and how committed they were to the match, because if you don’t commit to playing against this Luton Town team, you’re going to get beat by their work-ethic and desire.
“We’re all disappointed with the result and we’ve just spent 20 minutes going through both of their goals on the tele in the dressing room. It was quite an emotional event and some of the lads have quite a lot to say, which is fine. They were also digging each other out, which is healthy, I think, as long as we learn from it. Tomorrow, we will analyse the whole game properly and it put to bed before focussing on Hull City on Tuesday night, where hopefully we can get three points. Like any run of games, of course, we wanted to get six points, but we now have to make sure, that we get the win on Tuesday and we make it four from two games. It wouldn’t have been a bad start to the season, if we do that, a few wins and draws here and there, but the lack of clean sheets is why I’m so disappointed for the team. We talked about getting a clean sheet at half-time because we haven’t had one all season, despite defending pretty well in the away games, in particular that we’ve had. We need to stop leaking the odd goal, because it always gives us a chance of winning matches and we’ve seen today what can happen if we make a habit of it.
“Their last goal was a straightforward diagonal ball into the box, which we ourselves have scored a lot from since I’ve been at the club, with the likes of Danny Graham and Bradley Dack in League One. I know Nathan (Jones) has done a lot of work on that, because I remember he was almost in tears last season when we beat them 1-0, courtesy of a diagonal ball that Gallagher brought down for (Adam) Armstrong to score. It’s really frustrating, but we have to accept it. There are some positives from the young team who are a hugely different team to last season’s team with all the players who departed and yet, the current crop are fighting hard and displaying a lot of quality. They have to learn the principles of play we want to implement. We’ve signed some new players and genuinely they’ve been sat on the bench in order to learn how our team operate and for them to understand the work-ethic required to play in our team, and to understand the job that each role has within the team before they compete to get into the starting-eleven.”
