Victory was restored to the Rovers form book as a fantastic away performance at Carrow Road, saw Rovers pick up three points against an out of form Norwich City side, whose manager, Dean Smith will be looking nervously over his shoulder, hoping he isn’t part of the Xmas sack race.
Following the shocking 4-1 home defeat to Preston North End, last Saturday, Jon Dahl Tomasson made six changes to his side, which included a shift of system to a four at the back. Joe Rankin-Costello, Daniel Ayala, Harry Pickering, John Buckley, Tyrhys Dolan and Sam Gallagher all came in, as the injured duo of Callum Brittain and birthday boy Hayden Carter were left out of the side, whilst Scott Wharton, Lewis Travis, Ryan Hedges and Sammie Szmodics were all available from the bench. Ayala and Pickering were also inline for some milestones, as the Spaniard racked up 300 career games, whilst Pickering was marking half a century of starts in Blue and White.
As Sky Sports honed in on Rovers’ third successive showing on their channel, it was the away side who got the ball rolling after Paul Tierney’s whistle, as Rovers not only looked to try and get back to stop the rot of defeats, but also looked to try and grab their first victory at Carrow Road since a 2-0 win in August 1999 where two goals from Egil Østenstad helped then-manager Brian Kidd to Rovers’ first win since relegation from the Premier League.
Rovers started the brighter of the two sides, as after a Danel Sinani miss early on, Rovers punted the ball long from Thomas Kaminski’s goal-kick and won a free-kick inside the Norwich half. Tyler Morton’s delicate chip into the box wrong-footed both Ben Gibson and Angus Gunn, as Sam Gallagher made a nuisance of himself to force Gibson into an error as he shinned the ball past the goalkeeper, helping Rovers to an early 1-0 lead after just four minutes.
Jon Dahl Tomasson’s men began to keep the pressure on after the restart, as John Buckley tried his luck from just outside the box, but the returning midfielder’s effort zoomed wide of the far-post.
Norwich City built up a phase of pressure in the 22nd minute which led to Isaac Hayden trying his luck from a dropping volley from just outside the penalty area, but former Canary, Daniel Ayala did brilliantly to put his body on the line, as he blocked the former Arsenal and Newcastle United midfielder’s shot.
In the 28th minute, Daniel Ayala was booked for a late foul on Teemu Pukki, which gave Gabriel Sara a chance to test Thomas Kaminski, but hit the wall. The rebound fell to Sinani, but the Luxembourgish midfielder tried to volley in an audacious goal from the corner of the penalty area, but the ball flew over for a Rovers goal-kick.
Tyler Morton tried to notch up another assist in the 33rd minute, but his set-piece cross evaded everyone in Blue and White.
Sara tried his luck three minutes later with his own cross, but Teemu Pukki’s eventual attempt was scrambled behind for a Norwich corner, which saw Hayden meet the next cross, but failed to trouble Kaminski.
As Norwich continued to try and apply pressure, Rovers stood firm to deny them of any attempts at goal between the Hayden header and the half-time break, despite there being one minute of added time in-between.
Dean Smith would have been frustrated at the manner in which his side had gone behind and would have wanted more pressure from his side, in order to try and overpower a fragile Rovers side, with their top attacking quality. The former Aston Villa boss would have wanted to rectify their first-half errors to try and gain a first home win since the end of October, which was a 3-1 win over Stoke City.
Jon Dahl Tomasson would’ve been happy with his side’s first-half reaction, but would have also wanted more from his team, like his counterpart. Rovers had managed to get their noses ahead with a lucky break, early on, and had some magnificently to hang on and put out Norwich’s fires when they broke forward, but showed little attacking prowess after going ahead. The Dane would have wanted his side to potentially take inspiration from World Cup heroes, Morocco, in trying to plan for the second-half, as they looked to try and balance their defensive and attacking duties.
Following the break, Norwich City returned to the field intent on trying to get themselves back into the tie in the second period. They restarted the game looking to try and notch what would only be their sixth home win of the campaign.
Sinani tried to beat Kaminski with a free-kick in the 51st minute, after Josh Sargent was fouled on the edge of the Rovers area, but the Belgian perfectly followed the flight path of the ball and claimed the attempt.
In the 53rd minute, Rovers opened Norwich up after some element of pressure. Bradley Dack’s backheel took three yellow shirts out of the game as John Buckley drove forwards and tried to slide Sam Gallagher through, despite Ben Brereton Díaz being free on the far-right, but Buckley chose the wrong option and the wrong weight of pass, as Gunn picked up the loose ball.
Kenny McLean was booked for flying into a challenge against John Buckley, on halfway in the 57th minute.
That break in play allowed Norwich City to make a double change as Onel Hernández replaced Isaac Hayden, whilst Liam Gibbs came on for Gabriel Sara.
Rovers also altered their players as Scott Wharton and Sam Szmodics replaced the booked Daniel Ayala and Bradley Dack.
After Norwich won a 59th minute corner, McLean’s near-post header was easily plucked out of the air by Kaminski.
Sam McCallum tried to strike one in from range, but missed the left-hand upright in the 62nd minute.
Rovers’ third change came in the 65th minute as Ryan Hedges replaced Sam Gallagher, who had taken a knock and required treatment.
A Rovers corner was cleared out as far as Sam Szmodics who tried his luck with a dipping effort from outside the box in the 66th minute, but Angus Gunn was alert enough to get down to his left and deny the summer signing from doubling the visitor’s lead.
After Scott Wharton pinched the ball away from Josh Sargent, who was snaking into the box, Norwich’s subsequent corner saw the ball again fall as far as McCallum who again, blazed an effort wide off target.
Norwich’s third change saw Adam Idah come on for Danel Sinani in the 73rd minute.
Grant Hanley was booked in the 79th minute for flattening Tyrhys Dolan, as Rovers were offered a wide free-kick, but Norwich were on-hand to clear the in-swinging delivery.
In the 83rd minute, Tyler Morton was booked for a heavy challenge on McCallum.
Rovers managed to send their away support into raptures in the 86th minute as Tyrhys Dolan got himself on the scoresheet and surely sent the three points back to East Lancashire with an effort that was diverted goalwards by McCallum. Brereton Díaz found his opposite winger on the right, and the livewire youngster broke out his full skill repertoire to wrongfoot the defender, before striking an effort that ultimately sent Gunn the wrong way, as Dolan wheeled away in celebration for 2-0.
The second goalscorer tried to make it three and grab himself a brace as he cut in from the left and forced a save from Gunn, who parried the ball out but Brereton Díaz couldn’t latch onto the parried effort.
As the 90th minute ticked over, a minimum of six minutes were added onto the end of the contest, as Norwich looked to try and up the ante, to see if they could salvage something late on.
In the 91st minute, Thomas Kaminski and Teemu Pukki were booked for holding a triple threat match with a ball boy, who escaped the pair scared, but unharmed.
After more handbags between the two sides, Thomas Kaminski was called upon to keep Rovers’ clean-sheet intact in fabulous fashion, as he continued to cement himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the division, by palming a Sargent header off the line.
Minute 95 nearly saw Rovers treble their advantage as Dolan broke away with half the pitch to himself, as he broke into the penalty area and looked to try and grab a second, rather than feed Brereton Díaz in for a guaranteed third, but his effort narrowly cleared the crossbar.
That ultimately didn’t matter, as Paul Tierney soon blew the whistle to a chorus of Norwich City boos, as they continued to call for Dean Smith’s head after full-time. Rovers, however, celebrated delightfully with their travelling support who had made the long journey down to Norfolk and had gotten what their efforts had deserved.
Although Jon Dahl Tomasson made six changes and a formation swap, prior to the game, his alterations paid off, as well as his tactical plan, as Rovers managed to not only withstand Norwich’s pressure in-front of their home fans, but also showed some prowess at both ends of the field. The defensive display from the away team showed that, despite the changes that have occurred, each players is still aware of their role and it is no surprise that skipper for the night, Dominic Hyam, was given the Player of the Match award by Sky Sports. After stewing on a disappointing defeat to Burnley and then being hammered at home by Preston North End, this victory against – what should be – a fellow promotion rival showed that Rovers are able to duel with the big boys of the division. The game was the perfect reaction, not only to last Saturday’s display, but also to back-to-back defeats.
Following such a fine display, Rovers are back up to 3rd – after moving down to 4th during the earlier 3pm games – and have moved up to 39 points with a now positive goal-difference of +1, despite having the joint-second most defeats in the division.
Rovers’ next game sees them turn their attentions to the Carabao Cup Fourth Round, where they will welcome Nottingham Forest and over 5,000 of their fans to Ewood Park on Wednesday 21st December for the 7:45pm game. Following that tie, Sky Sports again are back in control of Rovers, as the Stadium of Light hosts Rovers on Boxing Day at 12:30pm. The final game of 2022 sees another North East affair, this time at Ewood Park, as Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side host Middlesbrough on Thursday 29th December at 7:45pm.
