After Rovers were pegged back in the 99th minute against Coventry City, as the Sky Blues came from behind to snatch a late 2-2 draw, Blues boss Tony Mowbray expressed his frustrations surrounding the game’s final goal and the added time at the end of the second period. The gaffer also discussed his team’s mentality and the conversations that led to the double substitution at the break.
“We have to accept the result, because the game is however long the referee decides. He wanted to play for another ten-and-a-half minutes, for some reason, so that’s what we have to deal with. The 2-2 result is in the history books now. ‘How hard is it to take?’, well it’s a really tough result on the group. I say it every week, but they’re an amazing group of players and people. They’re young and don’t really know how to manage a game, but today will be a great lesson for them as they learn and it will eventually come. We shouldn’t have allowed that goal at the end, and yet, I’m struggling to think how six minutes was put up on the fourth official’s board and I’m also wondering why we were still playing after ten minutes. The score is the score and we have to accept it. Hopefully, we can put things right next week, at home, and beat Blackpool and keep things ticking along. You see the results around us today and some teams are winning and others are losing and they’re all vying for those top six spaces. We just have to win some matches. Had we held on for the win, we would have secured three massive points and yet, it felt as if the points were stolen away from us, today.
“I can’t speak to the officials. The fourth official got me booked for just talking to him. The phrase he used to justify that was ‘aggressive tone’, which is stunning. This is my job; this is our profession. ‘Aggressive tone?’, I didn’t swear, I wasn’t screaming at him, but he was like a delicate little flower and yet, I have to be careful about what I say. I was really disappointed with their approach to the game, today, as an officiating team. The guy in the middle is a Premier League referee, isn’t he? I find it really hard to comprehend that. They’re the ones who should really be stood out here in-front of the journalists explaining where those ten-and-a-half minutes came from.
“I’m always proud of this team, particularly in that second-half. I’ve mentioned in the past that I get frustrated when our crowd get a little bit anxious. Why are you anxious? This is a team of warriors. These lads will fight until the end, and if they get beat, they’ll die on their sword. They’re amazing young footballers and if the club do it right, they could end up with the likes of John Buckley and Lewis Travis for another three to four years, which will only help strengthen the squad. Imagine those boys at their peak at 25, 26, 27-years of age? They will win lots of matches in this league. At the moment, they’re learning the game and I just think they’re amazing to be honest. I’ve been in football for over 40 years and I’m always proud of them when I watch them play, even if they get beat. I know the fans will judge us on the results and they get disappointed when we don’t win, but I judge the team based on their effort, performance, work-ethic and desire. I love them to bits and they’re a brilliant bunch.
“I don’t think you can ask more of them, can you not? We’re not Liverpool. We’re not Manchester City. We don’t have world-class players. You see what a massive difference it makes to the group when our two ‘best’ players come on in the second-half? I don’t know why it’s a surprise to everybody that we play better when Bradley Dack and Ben Brereton Díaz are on the pitch? Everything looks better when they’re on the field. Our threat levels rise and every attack looks dangerous and has the potential to be a goal. That’s not a slur on Joe Rankin-Costello or Ryan Giles who came off, that’s just the realisation that Dack and Brereton Díaz are two of our best players and they came on and changed the game. They were both unable to start. Bradley’s still building up his match sharpness and Ben’s just come back from the other side of the world after playing 80 minutes in a World Cup Qualifier for Chile against Uruguay, of all teams! I shouldn’t have brought him on at half-time, if I’m honest. I had a conversation with Ben and Brad and they both looked me in the eye and said they’d give it their best. I don’t want to gamble with Bradley’s career, but they were happy to play and I’m so pleased for Dacky that he managed to find the net. Let’s hope they can influence these next six games and help this team win some matches.
“I’m delighted for both Brad and the team. Some of the performances where we haven’t scored away from home have been worthy of victories. We missed a penalty against Sheffield Untied and I believe we would have won that game, 1-0 had we scored, and to lose it in the 94th minute, or whatever it was, and I know I keep repeating myself, this is a really young team. They have to learn on the job and I don’t think a more experienced team loses the goals we’ve recently lost in added time. They see the game out, but these lads are still learning and it’s brilliant to see how devastated they are in the dressing room. As I’ve said, there’s still so much to fight for and play for, we have to stick together and let’s see where we finish.
“They are devastated and sometimes they need a voice to put things into perspective for them. The team should be proud of their efforts today. They huffed and puffed in the first-half and found it difficult during the first 15 minutes. I have to say, Coventry City are a really decent team playing off strikers, setting their midfielders, running through. Their third men movements are really good, they play to the strengths of the players they’ve got and it took us a while to get on top of that and I think we did. We were the better team for the last 20 minutes of the first-half, in my opinion and then we started the second-half on fire. We should have been out of sight by the 90th minute and last goal would have been a token of consolation, but it wasn’t. Dacky was millimetres away from two balls flashing across the six-yard box, but so be it, we have to move onto the next game at home to Blackpool and look to bounce back.”
