On a night that was filled with so much emotion and optimism, Rovers failed to get out of the starting blocks and fell crashing down to reality after a woeful performance in Berkshire saw Jon Dahl Tomasson taste defeat for the first time as Blackburn Rovers manager, as Reading ran out 3-0 winners.
After Rovers secured their third successive league victory, following Sunday’s 2-1 home triumph over West Bromwich Albion, boss Jon Dahl Tomasson made two changes for the Wednesday night clash down in Berkshire. Tyrhys Dolan and Jack Vale both came into the side to replace Sam Gallagher and Ryan Hedges as Rovers looked for a more pacy away at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
As both players emerged onto the pitch, wearing black armbands as a mark of respect to ex-Rovers Jack Walker and Lenny Johnrose – who sadly passed away this week after a battle with Motor Neurone Disease. There was also a moment of applause to honour the pair, before kick-off as the away side got the game underway, following referee Keith Stroud’s whistle. Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side were looking to continue their fine start to the season and open up a four-point gap towards the top of the table.
The first flash at goal came the way of Rovers after 7 minutes as Ben Brereton Díaz fashioned some space by taking on Andy Yiadom, but the forward couldn’t get his shot on target.
Harry Pickering became the first recipient of a booking on the night, as he was cautioned for a hefty challenge on former Burnley midfielder, Jeff Hendrick, after 12 minutes.
Two minutes after Reading had restarted the game from their free-kick, the Select Car Leasing Stadium was delirious as Tom McIntyre managed to breach Rovers’ clean sheet and put the Royals ahead after 14 minutes. Following the awarding of a corner to the hosts, Tom Ince lofted the set-piece into the box as Tom McIntyre forced his way into the box and powered the ball past Thomas Kaminski to put his side 1-0 to the good.
Despite a prolonged quiet period midway through the first-half, Rovers were forced to make two goalline clearances in as many minutes, as in the 31st minute, Daniel Ayala was well positioned to deny Tyrese Fornah, whilst Harry Pickering came to the rescue in the 33rd minute to deny McIntyre a first period brace.
In the 43rd minute, Sammie Szmodics and Tyrhys Dolan combined as the former found the latter. Dolan’s quick feet mesmerised the Reading defence as he shifted the ball onto his right-foot, but was unable to test Joe Lumley as a defender blocked the shot.
As the break drew near, referee Keith Stroud called for two additional minutes to be played at the end of the first period. Yet, following a lacklustre couple of minutes, the first period was brought to an end.
Paul Ince would have been pleased with how his side had reacted tonight, following their 4-0 away defeat to newly-promoted Rotherham United at the weekend. The former Rovers boss would have been wanting to get his second victory in a row, over his former employers, after Rovers had succumbed to defeat at the Select Car Leasing Stadium in March. The former Liverpool and Manchester United midfielder would have been wanting more of the same resilience from his side, but he would also be quick to make them aware that Rovers had the quality to come out of the blocks and threaten in the second-half.
Jon Dahl Tomasson would have been frustrated in the dressing room at half-time, as his side had failed to get out of the blocks, despite holding most of the possession. The Dane would have relished this challenge, however, as he was aiming to overturn a deficit for the first time in his Rovers career and the fans would have been eager to see how he would alter things at the break, with his managerial nous put to the test.
Once both sides had returned to the playing surface, just prior to kick-off, Rovers made a triple change as Bradley Dack, Ryan Hedges and Sam Gallagher all came on to replace Jack Vale, Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics. Following the switches, the hosts soon got the game back underway in the hope that they could continue their fine rearguard performance and pick up their second victory of the campaign.
Tyrese Fornah became the second player to be booked on the night as he tried to stop Rovers from playing a free-kick quickly.
In the 54th minute, Ashley Phillips was nearly the unexpected hero for Rovers as he forced Joe Lumley into a save. Bradley Dack worked some magic to find the defender who released an effort on the spin which led to Lumley scrambling, but the Middlesbrough loanee did manage to keep his clean sheet intact. Rovers were also denied a penalty after Long had forced Phillips over in the box moments prior to the effort materialising.
The 55th minute saw Daniel Ayala and Tom Holmes both booked for an altercation during a corner.
Holmes nearly matched his central defensive partner and double Reading’s lead, but he was unable to angle Fornah’s cross towards goal.
Reading’s pressure continued as Shane Long forced Thomas Kaminski into a fine save, just on the stroke of the hour.
From the Kaminski save, Reading managed to make their pressure count and double their lead as the clock struck 60 minutes. Junior Hoilett picked the ball up on the right-hand side and created an angle to shoot from quite a way out, but somehow managed to get the better of Kaminski and find the back of the net, via the underside of the crossbar to make it 2-0.
The restart saw Brereton Díaz try and grab one back for the visitors, but he cleared the crossbar with his effort.
On minute 67, Tom Ince nearly made it 3-0 with a volley that saw Rovers troubled, but Kaminski was in the right place, at the right time, to deny the home side a third.
From the save, Rovers made their way up the pitch as Lewis Travis managed to feed Brereton Díaz through, but the Chilean again failed to test Lumley.
With 20 minutes to go, Reading made their first change of the game as former Rover Lucas João came on to replace Shane Long.
Only eight minutes after making his return from injury, the former loanee managed to put the dagger into the hearts of his former side by grabbing Reading’s third. Fornah stormed down the left-hand side, getting the better of Callum Brittain and Sam Gallagher’s challenges before finding João. The Angolan international managed to keep his composure and sidestepped a couple of navy shirts before wrong-foot Kaminski and finding the bottom left-hand corner to treble the host’s lead at 3-0.
The 80th minute saw Reading’s second swap as Kelvin Abrefa replaced Nesta Guinness-Walker.
Five minutes after Reading’s change, Rovers made a fourth as Tayo Edun replaced Brereton Díaz.
Moments after entering the field of play, Edun looked to try and force a consolation for Rovers, but his low drive edged wide of the upright.
In the 88th minute, Joe Lumley was booked for time-wasting.
As the 90th minute hit, Keith Stroud added on an astonishing seven minutes of time onto the end of the contest.
Rovers’ final change of the night came in the 93rd minute as Tyler Morton replaced Ash Phillips.
With Rovers looking well and truly beaten having failed to muster any attempt at a consolation during the added time, Keith Stroud soon called time on the game that Rovers and Jon Dahl Tomasson will want to quickly put behind them.
Rovers never really got going tonight and looked lacklustre all over the park, whether that being toothless in-front of goal, or exposed at the back. Whilst Jon Dahl Tomasson looked to try and freshen up his side and inject an element of speed and energy by bringing in Jack Vale and Tyrhys Dolan from the start, the pair never really looked comfortable in their role and that was shown when they, along with Sam Szmodics were hooked at half-time – (despite them not being the sole players who underperformed, but 11 changes aren’t allowed). Although Rovers have now lost their prospects of an unbeaten campaign, this game now offers the new coaching staff an insight into the harshness of the division and it will be intriguing to see how they go about rectifying tonight’s slip up.
Although Rovers have been well and truly beaten tonight, they do keep their place at the top of the league but have seen their positive goal-difference drop to +2.
Jon Dahl Tomasson will now have three days to try and sort his side out ahead of their weekend trip to Sheffield United – who beat Sunderland 2-1 tonight, courtesy of a goal and assist from Rovers’ summer target Anel Ahmedhodžić. That tie against Paul Heckingbottom’s Blades is on Saturday 20th August at 3pm. Following that tie, Rovers stay in the White Rose County to face Bradford City in the Carabao Cup Second Round on Tuesday 23rd August at 7:45pm. Once the cup is out of the way, Rovers return to Ewood Park to host Stoke City on Saturday 27th August at 3pm.
