Rovers were left to rue their missed opportunities in Wales, as Russell Martin’s possession-hungry side put an end to three goalless games and three defeats on the bounce, as Swansea City became the latest side to dent Blackburn Rovers’ promotion hopes, live on Sky Sports.
After Rovers picked up their eight clean sheet from their past 11 games, following their 0-0 away draw at Luton Town, last Saturday, injuries saw Tony Mowbray name a reshuffled side that included the January additions of both ‘Ryans’, Hedges and Giles. Alongside those changes, a third saw a fully committed Joe Rothwell return to the side, following his deadline day desire to depart Rovers, as Bradley Johnson was the unfortunate party to drop to the bench. With Sam Gallagher and Tayo Edun’s injuries ruling them out of the side, there was a return for Chilean goalscorer, Ben Brereton Díaz, who netted his fourth goal for the South American nation, in their 2-1 home defeat to Argentina, just over a week ago.
With the tie also live on Sky Sports – hence why the kick-off was at 5:30pm – it was John Buckley who got the game underway, following the whistle of referee Tim Robinson, as Rovers were hoping to extend their fine run of clean sheets and put some daylight between and third-placed AFC Bournemouth.
After just two minutes, Ryan Nyambe won the ball on halfway and stormed forwards before cutting the ball back for John Buckley, whose tame effort deflected into the gloves of former Rovers goalie, Andy Fisher.
Moments later, Ryan Giles showed his quality as he burst down the left-wing and played an inviting ball across the face of the goal, but fellow Ryan, Nyambe was forced wide of the ball’s path, by the defenders, who soon cleared.
After 16 minutes, Swansea managed to force themselves ahead through former Rovers target, Michael Obafemi, who nodded home his second goal of the season for the hosts. After Jamie Paterson stood up a fine cross from the left-hand side, which landed perfectly at the back post for Obafemi to nod home, after Ntcham’s off-ball run took Scott Wharton away from the forward. Obafemi then did well to sneak in, on Deyo Zeefuik’s blindside before timing his jump perfectly well in order to guide the ball past the inside of Thomas Kaminski’s near-post.
Six minutes after taking the lead, Swansea were knocking on the door again, as Obafemi and Jamie Paterson combined, but the latter couldn’t hit the target.
Joe Rothwell was the first player to be booked in the tie, as in the 24th minute, he clattered into the back of Joël Piroe, on halfway.
Rovers’ best chance of the half came in the 26th minute, as a Giles free-kick from the left-hand side saw Lenihan’s connecting nod cannon back off the post. John Buckley was on-hand to scoop up the rebound, but the young midfielder somehow blazed over the bar from point-blank range.
Buckley’s evening went from bad to worse in the 33rd minute, as he was booked for diving, on the edge of the area.
Joe Rothwell won possession back in the middle and used his pace to drive forward before finding the lively Giles whose shot towards goal was saved by Fisher.
Olivier Ntcham soon found his name taken by Tim Robinson, as the former Celtic man fouled Scott Wharton.
Ryan Manning became another Swan to be booked after the former QPR man fouled Ryan Nyambe in the 38th minute.
Wharton and Rothwell soon combined in the 41st minute with a very long one-two. With the defender winning the ball back and finding the midfielder, Rothwell soon lofted a ball into Wharton who had carried on his driving run forwards, but the academy graduate’s nod fell into the path of his former youth teammate, Fisher.
As the break loomed, referee Tim Robinson called for three extra minutes to be added onto the end of the tie.
The only action of added time saw Ryan Hedges threaded through on goal, before his left-footed attempt was dragged wide of the far-post, as he tried to find the far corner, in a bid to open his account for his new club against his old side.
With Hedges’ attempt being the last of the half, intermission was soon called for, as both sides headed into their respective dressing rooms for their half-time team-talks.
Russell Martin would have been delighted with how his side had not only executed their game-plan, but also coupled their high possession with a much-needed goal after having gone three games without finding the back of the net. The former MK Dons manager would have been encouraging his side to maintain their momentum and their style, but also be wary of the talents that Rovers might throw on, in the second-half.
Tony Mowbray’s annoyance was there to see during the first period and he would no doubt have expressed his frustrations to his team during the break. Despite the fact that Rovers had ended the first-half with only 33% possession, they had arguably squandered some fine chances, including that of John Buckley. The gaffer would have been quick to remind his side how good they actually were and encourage them to take the game to the fragile home side.
As both sides re-emerged for the second-half, it was the home side who got the game back underway, as they looked to try and get back to winning ways after not tasting victory in their last three games.
Following some half-chances by Rovers, in which they failed to test Fisher, Swansea soon found themselves in the Rovers area, in the 50th minute, as Piroe looked to pull the trigger, before an outstanding interception by Darragh Lenihan saw the Dutchman denied a chance to test Kaminski.
In the 52nd minute, Rothwell drove into the Swansea box before cutting onto his right-foot before seeing his effort deflected behind for a corner, which Rovers wasted, by fouling Fisher.
A minute after the Swansea free-kick, some battling in midfield saw Ryan Manning connect with Darragh Lenihan through a high boot, which gave Tim Robinson no choice other than to give the wing-back his marching orders, after receiving a second yellow card.
Following the dismissal, Russell Martin shuffled his pack in reaction, as he withdrew the Swans’ scorer, Michael Obafemi and introduced Ryan Bennett, to sure up his side’s defence.
Minutes later, Swansea soon made their second change, as Korey Smith soon replaced Olivier Ntcham.
Just before the hour mark, Rovers made two attacking changes as Ben Brereton Díaz and Reda Khadra came on for Deyo Zeefuik and Ryan Hedges.
In the 63rd minute, Joe Rothwell’s corner was nodded out as far as Lewis Travis whose first-time effort was skewed wide of the mark.
A 68th minute Jan Paul van Hecke strike from far out, flew over the crossbar, in a desperate attempt by the Dutchman.
Following the break in play, Rovers made their final change of the evening, as Joe Rankin-Costello replaced Ryan Nyambe.
Joel Latibeaudiere was soon introduced, on the 71st minute, as he replaced Joël Piroe, in Swansea’s final swap of the game.
As the closing stages of the game grew closer, Rovers began to pile on the pressure, with arguably the visitor’s best chance of the second period coming in the 86th minute. Ryan Giles delivered a fantastic cross towards the far-post, which saw Darragh Lenihan sneak in and connect with the bouncing ball, yet somehow, the centre-back failed to hit the target as his effort – which was ahead of a virtually open goal, as Fisher had already dived – cleared the crossbar.
Giles again tried to provide, less than a minute later, as van Hecke got on the end of the loanee’s delivery, but the former Rover in goal did well to tip the nod over the crossbar.
Minute 88 again saw Rovers’ skipper come narrowly close to finding an equaliser. A Rovers corner was played short before the ball was crossed towards the back-post. Scott Wharton picked the ball up before finding Lenihan with a good pass, yet the Irishman’s first-time effort narrowly skimmed the top of the crossbar, as he looked to the heavens.
Just as the clock ticked over into the 90th minute, Jamie Paterson nearly pulled off the goal of the season, as Swansea won possession back in their own half. The former Bristol City man, who opened his Swans account on the opening day against Rovers at Ewood Park, tried to beat the wandering Thomas Kaminski from his own half, yet a fine save with his head, just outside the box, saw the Belgian deny Swansea a second.
As the fourth official’s board was raised with four minutes, Rovers upped their ante in an effort to try and grab a late equaliser to break Welsh hearts.
Scott Wharton had two chances in as many minutes, as the game moved into the closing seconds, with the first forcing a save from Fisher, before the second falling wide of the mark.
Although Rovers kept huffing and puffing, they were unable to blow the Swansea City goal in and were left to ponder what might have been had they converted the clear-cut chances and the 2.04 xG that had fallen their way.
Writing this without proper reflection on the defeat is probably a mistake, but we must not let things get out of hand and understand the bigger picture. There’s no point in crying over the one result, as anomalies and upsets occur very regularly in football – that’s why we love the sport – yet, it’s important to know that, on any other given day – or even if the game had been played an hour later! – Rovers could have easily come away with three points and four goals to their name. Sadly, it wasn’t written in the stars and the most important aspect is to now know how we’re going to react to this defeat. Although the overall disappointment of the game is evident, Ryans, Giles and Hedges had fine debuts for the club. Giles, in particular, proved to be a menace down the left-hand side as he kept planting crosses that saw the Swans backline struggle with, despite them not leading to a breach of Andy Fisher’s clean sheet. There’s no time like the present to break the supposed ‘February curse’, even though the sharks at Sky Sports are licking their lips.
After Rovers failed to extend the gap between themselves and heavy-spending Bournemouth, the gap between the sides is still at one point, despite Rovers remaining in 2nd place. Mowbray’s men have now played 30 games and have 53 points, to Scott Parker’s side’s 52 points from 28 games.
Rovers don’t have to wait long to try and react to today’s disappointment, as they host Nottingham Forest on Wednesday 9th February at 7:45pm, at Ewood Park. Following that tie, the Blues travel to West Bromwich Albion, on St. Valentine’s Day – Monday 14th February – as the Sky Sports cameras look to milk the top of the 8pm table clash. After Mowbray travels to face his former team, Rovers are back at Ewood Park on Saturday 19th February to host Gary Rowett’s Millwall, as the Lions travel up north for the 3pm kick-off.
