The Sky Sports curse struck again for Tony Mowbray and his players, as Blackburn Rovers suffered from stage fright, as Hull City, who were buoyed by news of their Turkish takeover, ended Rovers’ ten-match unbeaten run, ahead of the television cameras, in a game that did not lack in controversy.
With this game set to finally be played, after it was abruptly postponed by the home side, during the festive period of 2021, Rovers come into this tie off the back of beating Cardiff City, in south Wales, 1-0. Although Hull City are undoubtedly a different proposition to the Bluebird, Tony Mowbray came into this rearranged tie with two changes from Saturday, including one enforced, following the one-match suspension Ryan Nyambe received, after his sending off in Wales. Joe Rankin-Costello came in at right-wing-back to replace the suspended Namibian, whilst the second change saw Sam Gallagher come in, to partner Ben Brereton Díaz, as Lewis Travis dropped out with an illness. Due to the shuffle, John Buckley dropped back to partner Joe Rothwell, whilst Reda Khadra dropped into the hole behind the forward pair. Newly acquired duo, James Brown and Dilan Markanday were both on the bench for the clash with the Tigers, with the game coming a bit early for Deyovaisio Zeefuik, who was not included in the squad, despite travelling.
As Sky Sports readied themselves for the game, it was the away side who got proceedings rolling for the 7:45pm kick-off, after the referee, Thomas Bramall, blew his whistle with Rovers looking to extend their fine run and win the game, to move themselves back into the automatic promotion spots.
After eight minutes, the buoyant MKM Stadium managed to suck the ball into the back of the net to go ahead on a big night in their history. A long-ball forward was kept in play brilliantly by Tom Eaves. The forward fought off Darragh Lenihan to find Ryan Longman, whose ball inside found George Honeyman, who was lurking around the penalty spot. The former Sunderland man did well with a first touch to kill the ball, before tiptoeing past challenges from Scott Wharton and Jan Paul Van Hecke, before slotting the ball past Thomas Kaminski. Although he managed to get a foot to the ball, Tayo Edun was unable to keep it from crossing the line, after it was confirmed by goal-line technology, as Honeyman wheeled away in celebration of putting Hull, 1-0 to the good.
Hull’s tails were up after that goal, as Tom Eaves looked to double the Tiger’s lead five minutes after they had gone ahead. The tall attacker picked the ball up outside the box and looked to fire a snapshot at goal, but he was unable to angle his attempt on target.
Two minutes later, Ben Brereton Díaz had a chance to pull Rovers level, but his attempt was saved by Nathan Baxter, before a late offside flag was raised against the Chilean.
In the 24th minute, Rovers’ Chilean was played through and turned the Hull City defence with a fine piece of skill. After bearing down on goal, a recovery run by Di’Shon Bernard saw the on-loan Manchester United man catch up to the attacker and clearly barge him in the back, much to the frustration of everyone in Blue and White halves, yet Thomas Bramall, the official waved play on.
A series of Rovers corners in the 28th minute culminated in a Scott Wharton header from just inside the penalty area, but the Rovers academy graduate couldn’t keep his header down.
Moments later, Rovers hit Hull on the break, as a John Buckley diagonal ball from deep inside the Rovers half, saw him release Reda Khadra, who was fighting against Bernard. As Khadra outpaced the on-loan defender, Nathan Baxter emerged from his goal looking for trouble, but despite being left in No Man’s land, as Khadra flicked the ball past him, the goalie was bailed out by some fantastic positioning by Bernard, who did well to provide a goal-line clearance from Khadra’s subsequent outside of the box effort, as Hull remained ahead.
Scott Wharton got himself forward in the 34th minute and tried to deliver an inviting ball, yet his cross somehow saw Baxter parry it behind for a corner. From the corner, Rothwell played a low ball in, which saw Lenihan try and tap it home, but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
Rovers again looked to draw themselves level, five minutes later, as Reda Khadra opened up a space for a long-range effort after some fine skill, but his shot found its way into the stand behind Nathan Baxter’s goal.
After one minute of added time was called for and played without any real goalmouth action, Thomas Bramall soon called time on the first-half.
Grant McCann would have been delighted with how his side had operated during the first-half of the tie. Although they had some shaky moments, they managed to catch Rovers by surprise and break the deadlock in order to sit back and protect what they had earnt. Despite their depleted squad, the relegation-threatened side were showing that they were not out of the league yet, but knew they faced a potential onslaught in the second period.
Tony Mowbray’s disappointment was evident as he patrolled the touchline in the MKM Stadium. His side had started poorly but had grown into the game as the half wore on, and should have at least found themselves going into the break level, after being denied what looked to be a clear penalty and having Khadra’s chance cleared off the line. The boss would have been using the break to encourage his side and remind them of their strengths, despite their slow start.
The second-half was soon begun by the home side, as Hull City were looking to build on the work they had started in the first-half, and win what would only be their seventh game of the season, and their fourth on home soil.
Five minutes into the second-half, and Rovers were showing what they were capable of as Brereton Díaz found some space to shoot from outside the box, but his effort was well-blocked.
Darragh Lenihan found himself coming in off the right-wing in the 55th minute, as he tried to stick the ball in at the near-post, but saw Baxter save his effort.
A minute later, Tom Eaves tried to extend Hull’s like with a venomous volley on the half-turn after holding of Tayo Edun, but the striker couldn’t keep his shot down.
In the 59th minute, Ryan Longman managed to force Thomas Kaminski into a save, as Randell Williams saw his follow-up blocked.
Moments later, Hull were awarded a corner as Rovers were sent into meltdown. A near-post corner saw Rovers in disarray as Longman tried to volley the ball into a virtually empty net, after Kaminski was trying to stop the ball from sneaking in at the near-post, yet the on-loan Brighton and Hove Albion man couldn’t keep his effort on target.
Brereton Díaz and Edun combined well, as the wing-back tried to sneak one in at the near-post, but Baxter managed to deny the former Lincoln City player his first Rovers goal. From the subsequent corner, Scott Wharton managed to connect with Rothwell’s cross, but the ball dropped wide.
Hull took the lead in incredibly controversial fashion in the 67th minute, as Longman’s deep cross was met by Eave who rose highest to meet the ball at the far-post. Despite the glaringly obvious foul by Sean McLoughlin on Thomas Kaminski, the rather sub-par officiating team allowed the goal to stand, as the home side celebrated their 2-0 lead.
Moments after the goal, Rovers made a triple change as Daniel Ayala, Bradley Johnson and Dilan Markanday were all introduced – with the latter for his Rovers debut, becoming the first player of South Asian descent to play for the Blues – as Joe Rankin-Costello, John Buckley and Sam Gallagher were withdrawn.
In the 70th minute, George Honeyman’s near-post effort was fantastically saved by Kaminski, as the rebound, which fell to Kean Lewis-Potter was blazed over the bar.
Following the chance, the game saw a stoppage after Thomas Kaminski noticed some blood – most probably that of McLoughlin – on his top, which led to him having a change of shirt, which also triggered the fury inside Tony Mowbray towards the referees.
Rovers managed to craft an effort on goal in the 74th minute as Bradley Johnson saw his shot blocked, only as far as Markanday who teed up Brereton Díaz, who failed to keep his effort down.
Joe Rothwell picked up an 81st minute booking after chasing back and tripping up Keane Lewis-Potter. The young forward decided to take the set-piece himself and came within inches of trebling his side’s lead after the ball narrowly edged past the post.
Keane Lewis-Potter threatened again in the 86th minute, as he looked to curl the ball past Kaminski, yet his effort again curled wide of the upright.
Hull City made their first change of the night in the 87th minute as Tyler Smith replaced Ryan Longman.
Rovers’ second booking of the game came in the 88th minute, after Darragh Lenihan had fouled on halfway.
As the 90th minute ticked over, Mr. Bramall added on six extra minutes onto the end of the game.
In the 92nd minute, Tyler Smith did well to force a fine same out of Kaminski, as Rovers kept their goal-difference respectable.
In the 94th minute, George Honeyman departed to a standing ovation from the home crowd as Callum Jones came on to replace him for the final moments.
A minute after Jones’ introduction, Brereton Díaz was booked for a forceful challenge on Hull’s Greg Docherty.
The Chilean’s challenge proved to be the final act of the night, as the curtain came down on what proved to be quite the pantomime that Sky Sports would have liked, as Goliath beat David, despite the rather unholy display from the officials.
An undoubtedly hard defeat to take, but we must not dwell on the past. Although the fact the loss came against a lowly side, and that hurts, the team have been brilliant up until this point and the run was never going to last forever. Today’s team selection was promising at 6:45pm, when it was released, however a combination of factors, not to mention the absence of Lewis Travis in the heart of Rovers’ midfield, culminated in Rovers having quite a poor evening. With Ben Brereton Díaz set to miss two upcoming fixtures, it will certainly be interesting to see how Rovers react in their next game.
Despite the doom and gloom, Rovers are still sitting pretty in 3rd place, five points away from Queens Park Rangers, despite the London side having two games in-hand. Rovers are on 49 points and a positive goal-difference of +14, from 27 games played.
Looking ahead to the upcoming games, as mentioned Ben Brereton Díaz is set to miss the home clash against Middlesbrough and the away visit to Luton Town. The first of those falls on Monday 24th January at 7:45pm, which is another tie, live on Sky Sports, as Tony Mowbray hosts his boyhood club at Ewood Park. Following that game, Rovers make the trip down south to play at Kenilworth Road, as Luton Town welcome the Lancashire side on Saturday 29th January for the 3pm kick-off. After that, Rovers head back to Wales, to start their tough February period, as Russell Martin’s Swansea City welcome the Blues to the Swansea.com Stadium, this time, with fans in attendance. That tie will be played on Saturday 5th February, at 5:30pm, also live on Sky Sports.
