The first league meeting between Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland since 2012 saw the same scoreline and the same victors, as Rovers replicated the 2-0 scoreline that was achieved a decade ago, to defeat former manager, Tony Mowbray on his first return to Ewood Park.
Rovers came into this fixture looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this campaign, after Saturday’s 2-1 away win over Middlesbrough, at the Riverside Stadium. With Lewis Travis suspended and Daniel Ayala still unfit to play, Jon Dahl Tomasson made four changes from Saturday’s winning side, as he prepared to face his predecessor, Tony Mowbray, who arrived back at Ewood Park for the first time with his new side, Sunderland. There was a case of familiar faces in East Lancashire as Liverpool starlet, Harvey Elliott, was in the stands to watch his old club play against his old boss.
Hayden Carter, Ryan Hedges, Sam Szmodics and Jake Garrett all came into the side. Garrett came in for his Sky Bet Championship debut in the centre of midfield, as he partnered Liverpool loanee, Tyler Morton. Harry Pickering was a notable absentee who was rested due to fatigue, which allowed Ryan Hedges to fill in at right-wing back, as Callum Brittain switched over to the left. Lewis Travis’ suspension allowed Garrett a chance to shine, whilst Hayden Carter came in for Ash Phillips as the workload of the youngster was continued to be managed by the Rovers staff. Sam Szmodics’ addition to the side was at the expense of Adam Wharton, who – alongside Phillips – were both available from the bench. Whilst Dom Hyam was rewarded with the captain’s armband following his outstanding displays in recent weeks, speculation rumbled on social media following the exclusion of Bradley Dack from the matchday squad. In amongst the madness, Ben Brereton Díaz was also making his 100th Rovers start.
As Sky Sports readied themselves for their second successive Rovers midweek game, it was Rovers who began proceedings as Premier League referee, Craig Pawson, signalled for the tie to commence. The Blues were looking to try and earn back-to-back victories for the first time this campaign and halt the win/loss run.
After 120 seconds, Sunderland found themselves in-behind Rovers as former Tottenham Hotspur defender, Dennis Cirkin snuck in and tried to find the far-post, but saw his effort drag across the face of goal and go behind for a goal-kick.
With 10 minutes gone, Sam Szmodics managed to nick the ball and find Ben Brereton Díaz who tried his luck from range, but failed to test Anthony Patterson in the Sunderland goal.
As efforts were few and far between, Jake Garrett tried to liven up proceedings with a far-post cross that was met by Brereton Díaz whose effort dropped wide of the mark.
The 29th minute saw the first booking of the game given to Alex Pritchard as a Rovers counter-attack was halted by the former Norwich City midfielder, who clipped the heels of Tyler Morton, after the Blues tried to get away from a poor Sunderland corner.
After Craig Pawson waved away a contentious penalty call in Sunderland’s favour, Ewood Park soon burst into life in the 32nd minute as Ben Brereton Díaz got bums off seats with a screamer that left Sunderland players rooted to their spots, only 22 seconds after play was waved on. After Callum Brittain’s driving run saw him lay the ball off to Gallagher, the forward’s effort was poked away only as far as the Chilean who only needed one touch to take the roof off the stadium, as he curled a first-time effort into the top-left-hand corner of Patterson’s net to put Rovers 1-0 ahead.
Four minutes later, Szmodics burst forwards and tried to find the Chilean, who was lurking at the far-post for what would surely be 2-0, but Luke O’Nien’s crucial intervention denied Rovers a second.
In the 40th minute, Tyler Morton was booked for a shirt pull.
Thomas Kaminski was called into action in the 41st minute where he pulled off a fine save from Jack Clarke’s header.
Three minutes later, Sunderland kept knocking on the door as Kaminski again denied the visitors from Alex Pritchard’s free-kick.
After one minute of added time, Craig Pawson brought the first-half to an end as Rovers headed into the changing rooms buzzing after their brilliant first period display.
Jon Dahl Tomasson would have been pleased that his side had gone into the break with the lead, but would have wanted more from his side in the second-half so that they could pull away from the newly-promoted side and lay any fears of a second-half Sunderland comeback. The Dane would have wanted his side to try and increase the intensity so that Rovers could try and grab a second goal and kill the tie.
Tony Mowbray would have wanted his side to up the ante against his former side and try and turn the game around and work towards securing their second successive win, after beating Wigan Athletic 2-1 at the weekend. The ex-Rover would have been pertinently pointing out to his side, the threats that Rovers possessed both on the field and on the bench.
The visitors got the second-half underway looking to try and grab their first win over Rovers at Ewood Park since 2008.
In the 48th minute, Cirkin was booked for bringing down Ryan Hedges on the left-hand side which saw Rovers earn a free-kick that the Welshman took himself to devastating consequences. The utility man picked the ball up and whipped a left-footed cross in towards the near-post that saw – a slightly offside-looking – Scott Wharton connect with the delivery and divert the powerful effort into the back of the net for 2-0, as Rovers wheeled away in celebration of doubling their lead.
Sunderland kept piling on the pressure as Thomas Kaminski was again called for in the 54th minute as he did brilliantly to pull off another reactionary save to deny Danny Batth’s close-range header.
Just after the hour-mark, Ben Brereton Díaz won the ball back in the opposition’s half and drove towards the Sunderland goal before failing to keep his effort on target.
In the 62nd minute, a Callum Brittain cross was met by Sam Gallagher on the volley, but the forward failed to net in successive games as his attempt veered wide of the mark.
Tony Mowbray soon made a triple change in the 64th minute as Amad Diallo, Jewison Bennette and Abdoullah Ba replaced Alex Pritchard, Dan Neil and Elliot Embleton.
Only a minute after coming on, Jewison Bennette was booked after an altercation with Sam Szmodics and a Darwen End ball-boy saw the Costa Rican and the Rovers midfielder both yellow carded, whilst the ball-boy was dismissed by referee Craig Pawson.
The 71st minute saw Brittain again deliver a ball into the box, but the Chilean forward couldn’t test Anthony Patterson in the Black Cats’ goal.
Tony Mowbray made a fourth change as he threw on Trai Hume in-place of Aji Alese.
Hayden Carter soon picked up a booking after bodychecking Jack Clarke in the 74th minute.
Jon Dahl Tomasson made two changes of his own as Tyrhys Dolan and Jack Vale came on to replace Sam Szmodics and Sam Gallagher.
Thomas Kaminski again pulled up a fantastic save to deny Manchester United loanee, Amad Diallo, who tried to beat the Belgian at his near-post.
In the 80th minute, Tony Mowbray’s final change saw his introduce Paris Saint-Germain loanee, Edouard Michut, as he came on to replace the Black Cats’ skipper and former Rover, Corry Evans.
As 90 minutes appeared on the scoreboard clock, Craig Pawson added on five added minutes onto the end of the game, as Sunderland tried to muster themselves up some sort of pride in the dying embers.
In the 91st minute, Scott Wharton thought he’d doubled his league tally in one night, as he connected with Tyler Morton’s corner at the back-post, but it ended up in the side-netting.
Milliseconds before the final whistle, Ryan Hedges nearly topped Rovers’ Goal of the Season competition in one night, after tried a first-time left-footed shot from the halfway line that struck the post before falling wide, as Craig Pawson soon brought a brilliant night at Ewood Park to an end.
Fabulous. Outstanding. Clinical. All words that can be aptly used to describe Rovers’ display tonight, in-front of the Sky cameras. Not only have the Blues broken their inconsistency to start the campaign off by notching successive wins, but they have also picked up their first victory on Sky Sports since the 4-1 away victory over Preston North End in the penultimate game of last campaign. This victory showed that Rovers were capable of producing under pressure, despite the side being the second average youngest in the division. Although there was controversy surrounding both goals, Rovers still managed to put the ball into the back of the net twice and proved great value for their eighth victory of the campaign. Their second-half approach especially was key as they managed to continue to pelter Sunderland on the counter, who continued to push forwards in search of a route back into the tie.
You might want to go find the league table from your favourite football app and screenshot the Championship, because Rovers are top of the league! Yes, the Blues under Jon Dahl Tomasson are leading the pack with 27 points from 16 games, despite their relatively low goal-difference of +3.
Next up for the Blues is another home game, this time they welcome Birmingham City to Ewood Park on Saturday 22nd October for the 3pm start. After that, they make their way to Yorkshire to face managerless Hull City on Saturday 29th October at 3pm. Once those battles have concluded, Rovers enter November with an away game scheduled, as Jon Dahl Tomasson and his players head to Coventry City on Tuesday 1st November for the 7:45pm kick-off.
