After Rovers returned to winning ways down in Norfolk, where 500 fans watched Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side beat promotion favourites, Norwich City, 2-0 live on Sky Sports on Saturday evening, the Blues Head Coach spoke of his delight after picking up their first three points since early November.
“Tonight, was a brilliant night, a brilliant performance and a brilliant result. We asked the lads for a reaction and they gave us an excellent one. They stuck to the game plan and what we worked on throughout the week. We started on the front-foot and pressed them. We had some great moments pressing a team that played in the Premier League last season. We got the crowd against them and had some good attacks and, of course, scored goals. It was also great to keep a clean-sheet. It’s amazing to see more than 500 Rovers fans make the long trip.
“We used more or less, the whole squad today, which was important, as it allowed everyone to stay fit and focussed, especially those who haven’t played as much. Everyone put in a great performance, so compliments to them, but it’s been a crazy week with all the snow as well, but the club have done brilliantly. We had a good week training on Ewood to prepare for today, which was a positive, as well.
“We showed great bravery today, which was great to see. We’ve been inconsistent this season and we will remain that way, but these young lads did brilliantly today and they must be complimented, because they made life difficult for a recently-relegated side at a very difficult stadium. We were extremely aggressive and did well, but I feel we could have scored a couple more goals on the counter.
“It was great to see us go ahead so early on, even if it wasn’t a rocket shot(!) It was good to see Sam (Gallagher) and (Tyrhys) Dolan scoring as well as keeping the very important clean-sheet. Thomas (Kaminski) had a good day at the office and made a fantastic save towards the end, as well. I think we defended very well and although we left some space because of our aggression, we were intense and Norwich City had difficulty dealing with us.
“Tyhrys’s goal relaxed us on the bench, although it would have been better if he’d scored it 10 minutes earlier(!) One-goal leads always make you nervous, because there’s always the chance that the opponent will score. They were throwing every player forward, but we showed big character as a group, today.
“I think both John (Buckley) and Joe (Rankin-Costello) did a great job, despite not playing a lot this season. Joe hasn’t played a lot, but has trained really well and played a great game against West Ham United, played in the midfield against Ajax and also played really well in our internal game, midweek at Ewood Park. He put in a big performance, but it’s important to use the whole squad, because we’re entering a busy Christmas period. John was very good, today. He’s one of the players who’s had a difficult time, but he’s shown character and they’ve both put in a good performance, tonight.
“They’ve both shown great character to come back and put in a performance like tonight. Sometimes, we forget that these are young lads who haven’t had a lot of experience at Championship level. If you count all the minutes and games that our squad has had at this level, it’s not as much as many of the sides in this league. That opens the door for inconsistence and difficult moments, but if you stick at it and continue doing the right thing, you get closer to playing in the team and that showed tonight with their great performances.
“I think consistency is a challenge for the whole squad. We were very disappointed with the last game before the World Cup and last week, but today, we’re extremely happy with the performance and result. We asked for a reaction and they gave us a great one. They showed brilliant character and I really enjoyed tonight.
“Winning is always good medicine. I might sound a bit boring, because I know how football is, we’re an inexperienced young squad and our season can be like a rollercoaster. Sometimes tough days at the office can be our advantage, with a young team, because it can be easier to forget the bad results, as they just want to focus on playing football, trying their best and improving.”
