It was Derby Day Delight for Rovers as Ben Brereton Díaz’s 17th goal of the season – and his 10th at Ewood Park – saw Rovers sneak a 1-0 victory over Lancashire rivals, Preston North End with Mowbray’s men sealing their first Ewood win over the Lilywhites since the 2000-2001 promotion season.
After Rovers moved into a playoff spot, following last week’s 1-0 away win over Stoke City, Tony Mowbray made one change for this week’s Lancashire Derby against Preston North End. After coming off injured in last week’s fixture, Thomas Kaminski wasn’t deemed fit enough to make the derby and so, Aynsley Pears came in to deputise for the Belgian, for his first league start since November 2020. Bar the change in goal, the outfield selection remained the same, as Rovers continued with their 5-3-2 formation.
With both sides out on the pitch at an electric Ewood Park, it was the away side – backed by 4,330 supporters – who got the game underway at the 3pm kick-off. With the ever-controversial Gavin Ward as the match official, Preston were looking to extend their unbeaten run to three games after beating Middlesbrough and drawing with Fulham, last week.
Preston crafted the game’s first opportunity in the fourth minute as Ched Evans found Alan Browne with a defence-splitting pass. The Irishman did well to control the ball in the poor conditions, but was crowded out by the retreating defenders, as his shot was dragged wide of the mark.
In the ninth minute, a combination of Jan Paul van Hecke and the wet surface denied Emil Riis Jakobsen a chance to run at goal, as the Dutchman recovered well and cleared the ball, midway through the Rovers half.
Minute 13 saw Rovers craft their first half-chance in the game, as Joe Rothwell used his speed to drive into the Preston box, but the conditions slowed him down. He managed to make something of it as he did well to pull the ball back to Lewis Travis, who saw the ball pinched away from him at the final moment, before he could wind up a strike.
Ben Brereton Díaz burst into life in the 15th minute after a mix-up between the Preston defence, saw the ball once again, held up by the conditions. The Chilean picked up the ball on the right and drove towards the box before cutting the ball back across the face of goal. After John Buckley kept the move alive, he provided a cross for the Chilean who couldn’t force Daniel Iversen into a save.
Moments later Darragh Lenihan became the first player to be booked, as he took Alan Browne out on halfway, in the 16th minute.
Rovers’ first attempt on goal came in the 20th minute. After Joe Rothwell put Reda Khadra through, the German picked up the ball wide-left and put in a right-footed cross that eventually fell to the feet of John Buckley. The midfielder twisted and turned before aiming an effort towards the bottom right-hand corner of Iversen’s goal, but Leicester City’s Danish loanee made a comfortable save.
In the 23rd minute, Ali McCann tried his luck from range, but his effort skewed well wide of the Rovers goal.
After 31 minutes, Jakobsen tried to find the corner of the net with a curling effort, by trying to use Lenihan as a shield, yet the Dane’s attempt went high and wide.
A low Ben Whiteman corner was met at the near-post by Ched Evans in the 32nd minute but Aynsley Pears made a fantastic save to deny the away side the lead, before smothering the ball.
In the 43rd minute, Gavin Ward got so bored of the game, he decided to get involved. After blocking Darragh Lenihan from clearing the ball, the official gave Preston the ball back from a dropped ball. That incident, after previously failing to provide a dropped ball when he got in the way of a Preston attack, saw Tony Mowbray blow his top as he launched a scathing tirade at the official, which led to the Rovers boss picking up the second booking of the game after a string of expletives.
As the 45th minute ticked over, the officials added one extra minute of time onto the end of the half, but that wasn’t required as neither side was able to create anything in the added time, as the half-time whistle soon went.
The first-half was not one for the faint-hearted or for football purists and both managers would have had words to say in their respective dressing rooms.
The booked Tony Mowbray would have been quick to instil a mindset of ‘them vs us’ following the shambolic display of the official during the latter part of the first period. The Rovers boss would have been encouraged by his side’s display but would have been a bit wary of the movement of the ball and would have been hatching a plan to try and take advantage of the situation, against Preston’s rather physical side.
Frankie McAvoy would have had similar feelings to the Rovers boss and would have been trying to work out how his side could take advantage of the conditions. Although Preston arguably had the better of the affair, the visitors had looked rather culpable on the counter, with Rovers sneaking through once or twice during the first period.
The second-half was restarted by Rovers who were looking to try and gain their first home win over Preston North End, since their promotion season in 2000-2001.
After a subdued opening eight minutes of the second-half, Ewood Park erupted as Rovers found the breakthrough through Ben Brereton Díaz who grabbed his 17th goal of the campaign after a fine header past Daniel Iversen. Reda Khadra picked the ball up on the left-hand side and whipped in an inviting cross towards the near-post which the Chilean connected with as he diverted the pacey cross into the back of the Preston net, via the inside of the post, as Rovers went 1-0 ahead in the derby.
After some handbags in the 65th minute after Ched Evans led in on Darragh Lenihan with an elbow, the players emerged from the skirmish and Gavin Ward decided to book Jan Paul van Hecke and Emil Riis Jakobsen, for some reason.
In the 66th minute, John Buckley’s race was run as he was withdrawn to a round of applause from the home crowd, as Bradley Johnson came on to replace him.
In the 69th minute, after Ryan Nyambe pirouetted and glided past a few Preston bodies, the right-back was scythed down outside the penalty with Gavin Ward waving play on. That sparked anger in Lewis Travis who produced a similar challenge on Alan Browne, which Ward decided was a foul, as the Rovers man chuckled his way into the book.
In the 72nd minute a Rothwell corner was met by Bradley Johnson, but his nod towards goal was blocked by the Preston defence.
In the 76th minute, Reda Khadra departed the field and was replaced by former Preston youngster, Tyrhys Dolan.
Rothwell’s 77th minute strike from outside the area, was blocked before it could test Iversen.
After the ball went out of play, following Rothwell’s blocked attempt, Preston made a double change which saw Scott Sinclair and Daniel Johnson replace Ali McCann and former Rover, Greg Cunningham.
Preston’s final change came in the 81st minute as Ryan Ledson replaced Matthew Olosunde.
Moments after the change, Preston were furious as they believed they should have had a penalty after a dubious handball by Ryan Nyambe. The visitors were all surrounding the referee as the exchange ended in Ched Evans being booked.
Rovers’ third and final chance saw Tayo Edun replace Joe Rothwell in the 85th minute as Rovers looked to manage the game with fresh legs in midfield.
In the 88th minute, Ben Brereton Díaz was slid down the left-hand channel and ran at Jordan Storey. The Chilean twisted the full-back inside out and knocked the ball past him and lined up a low shot but Iversen did well to parry the ball. Dolan picked up the loose ball and laid it off to Travis, but the midfielder’s effort hit the back of the Blackburn End.
As the 90th minute ticked over, Gavin Ward and his officiating team added on five extra minutes onto the end of the game as both sides went ‘all hands on deck’.
The 92nd minute saw Preston pile on the pressure, but Ryan Nyambe marked his 24th birthday by stealing the ball and clearing it downfield in an effort to save Rovers’ clean-sheet.
After Preston kept bombarding Rovers, the home side held on to secure a vital victory which extended their unbeaten run to five games as the home support began to believe.
It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but putting all the refereeing shambles aside, that was a fantastic game and a game that showed not only the spirit and the tenacity within the squad, to play and emerge victorious in such weather conditions, but it also showed the quality of the squad and their togetherness in coming away from the game with a third consecutive clean sheet. The defenders all deserve credit, including Aynsley Pears who came in for his first start of the season and kept his second clean sheet in as many games, including producing a wonderful save in the first-half to deny Preston. Although the superlatives are running out for our one man Chilean band, the whole team deserve plaudits that could continue going into next week, as was the outstanding nature of the performance, more so after taking the lead.
With that victory, Rovers have moved back up to fourth place and sit seven points off second-placed AFC Bournemouth, who are up next for Mowbray’s men. The Blues are sat on 36 points from 21 games with a positive goal-difference of +8.
As noted, Rovers’ next game is away at AFC Bournemouth on Saturday 11th December at 3pm. Following that long trip down south, Rovers are back at Ewood Park to host Birmingham City on Saturday 18th December for the 3pm kick-off, before the annual Boxing Day bash comes on Sunday 26th December at 3pm, where Tony Mowbray’s men make the short trip across the Pennines to face Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.
