After Rovers put four past Birmingham City to move up to third in the Sky Bet Championship table, a delighted Tony Mowbray spoke to RoversTV about his side’s emphatic 4-0 victory.
“A 4-0 win at home is a great result. Another three points and another clean sheet. We always understood that Birmingham City were going to make life difficult, because they’re a very organised, aggressive, physical side, but I think we deserved the result. We looked like we could score goals on the break and the more men they committed forwards, the more we looked like we were going to score, if we managed to get the first pass away because we’ve got a lot of talent, speed and mobility at the top end of the pitch. At the defensive end, Scott (Wharton), Darragh (Lenihan) and Jan Paul (van Hecke) are all looking immense at the moment, as are Ryan (Nyambe) and Harry (Pickering) who are doing immensely well. It’s all clicking together for us and as I’ve just said to them in the dressing room, they have to enjoy these days because it’s not very often as a footballer that you get five straight wins and five straight clean-sheets. I’ve told them to try and enjoy Christmas with their families, because we’ve got a massive game on Boxing Day and we need to keep going in order to see where this season takes us.
“I think the defenders are desperate to keep clean-sheets which is a fantastic quality for a defender. Of course, you want to score loads of goals and win games, but you want to prioritise keeping clean-sheets. I think you can see how committed they are because of how they put their bodies on the line and how they win first contact on headers and it’s been really impressive. Darragh has shown brilliant leadership qualities and he has really stepped up and has started to show everybody what a wonderful talent he is with his personality that is shining out of him on the grass. He’s aggressive and assured with the ball at his feet which is fantastic. The whole back five and Thomas (Kaminski) have been brilliant. Jan Paul is a monster who wins everything in the air, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more composed young defender on a football pitch than Scott. He plays in an area where you have to be aggressive and strong and he’s just so calm with everything he does. We’re left with a lot of positives. I’ve been telling them to keep their feet on the ground and not to get carried away because we’re back in action soon and we’ve got to keep going. Hard work and togetherness are the cornerstones to everything we’re doing and hopefully they’re enjoying this moment.
“It good to hear the crowd as loud as they are. We have a very young team who have gelled really well and Darragh makes sure that everybody is right at it, every day in training and they all deserve huge credit. They’re working extraordinarily hard for each other and they’re getting the rewards. They work their socks off behind the scenes and the fans only see the matchdays, really. But there’s a lot of work and sacrifice behind the scenes. Our training ground has gone back to how it was last season, with social distancing and spacing out. We’re not allowed in meeting rooms, so we have to go into the gym and space it all out. I think you lose that dressing room camaraderie when you can’t sit next to your mate and get changed every morning and talk about what the day’s going to bring. That said, we’re doing well, we’re getting results, they’re working hard as a group and we have to try and stay focussed.
“I’m pleased for the supporters that we’re giving them something to cheer about. The supporters of Blackburn Rovers have had a tough decade or so, or however long it’s been. All we can do as football people, at the club, is try and give the best we can. I said it not that long ago that, when you support a certain team, you support it for life, and you support them through thick and thin. Yet, when it’s not going so well, you should probably be cheering even louder than when it’s going well, because when everything’s going well, it’s easy to support a football club. I’m pleased that the supporters are getting some good days and some good away trips and we’re sending them away happy. I’m pleased for everybody at the club, from top to bottom really, but I never get carried away in these situations. I’m sure that we’ll have some difficult days to come, but we need to try and keep things ticking over.
“It’s a huge achievement for this group to be where we are in the table, they are doing amazingly well and have gelled better than we could have thought. I talked earlier on in the season about how young this team was and what the expectations were and how difficult this league is. One week you’re playing against Bournemouth who hold possession well and have Premier League players and then the next week you’re playing Birmingham City who are direct and physical and that tests our group as we also have to be strong and defend well, but we’re finding a way to win games.”
