A valiant, well-organised Rovers performance ultimately wasn’t enough as Billionaire Chelsea set up a Quarter-Final tie with Newcastle United, after beating Jon Dahl Tomasson’s young team, 2-0, in the Carabao Cup Fourth Round.
The Rovers patriarch made six changes, for the Lancashire side’s first visit to Stamford Bridge in over a decade, to the side that had fallen to a 1-0 home defeat against Swansea City at the weekend. Jake Garrett, Dilan Markanday, Adam Wharton, Lewis Travis – who skippered the young side – Harry Leonard and Andrew Moran all came in, as Scott Wharton, Sondre Tronstad, Joe Rankin-Costello, Arnór Sigurðsson and Tyrhys Dolan were all available from the bench, whilst Sammie Szmodics was ruled out with an injury. Callum Brittain reverted to his usual right-back role, as James Hill shuffled over to partner Hayden Carter at the heart of the defence, whilst Harry Leonard led the line, flanked either side by Andy Moran and Dilan Markanday.
With most of the Rovers fans still sauntering around the streets of Kensington, due to the traffic, referee Tim Robinson signalled for Nicolas Jackson to get the game underway at the unusually early time of 7:44pm, as Rovers were hoping to replicate the magic that had seen them beat West Ham United on penalties, 12 miles away, just under a year ago.
Rovers started brightly as they managed to get a sniff of the ball early on as Dilan Markanday found half a yard of space and tried his luck in the 7th minute, but his effort dragged wide and proved no bother for Robert Sánchez.
In the 16th minute, Chelsea used their superiority to get a ball over the top of Rovers that saw returning Blues skipper, Reece James latch onto, but Rovers’ Swedish shot-stopper, Leo Wahlstedt was alert enough to get down to deny the England international the opener.
The away side were showing that they were capable of strutting with the best that the country has to offer in the 20th minute, as some good possession saw Travis set Brittain away, but the full-back’s delivery was knocked behind for a corner that the home side dealt with.
Cole Palmer was getting into his groove as he managed to force the game’s first booking as he sped past Harry Pickering who pulled the £40m signing down as Tim Robinson flashed his yellow card in the direction of the yellow-shirted defender.
Chelsea managed to find half-a-yard of space as James was again teed up, but the defender’s long-range effort trickled wide of Wahlstedt’s right-hand post.
In the 26th minute, the Swede was again called upon, in-front of the Rovers fans, as he did well to deny World Cup winner, Enzo Fernández’s effort.
On half-an-hour, Chelsea finally managed to break Rovers’ resolve as a quick corner from the hosts caught the visitors napping as they played the ball short and down the byline for a cutback angle as Conor Gallagher saw his cross softly palmed by Wahlstedt towards the penalty spot which fell incredibly kindly for Benoît Badiashile who displayed great composure to produce a first-time side-footed effort into the bottom left-hand corner of the net to put the hosts ahead, at 1-0.
In the 36th minute, Rovers looked to react almost instantaneously as they broke down the right with Callum Brittain looking to cross the ball into the box, but the delivery was denied by the flailing arm of Conor Gallagher, which saw the 3,000+ away fans up in arms, yet with no VAR in action, play was waved on by Tim Robinson.
As half-time drew nearer, Rovers managed to fashion a half-chance with three minutes to go as a Travis cross was teed up for Moran, by Leonard, but the Brighton and Hove Albion loanee’s slice curled away from goal and just edged past the right-hand post as Sánchez shepherded it wide.
Despite there being two minutes of time added onto the end of the first-half, both sides had cooled their efforts, as the first 45 minutes were brought to an end with the hosts holding a slender lead.
Mauricio Pochettino would have been nervy during the break, as he would have wanted his side to put their foot down and take further control of the game, despite their lead at half-time. The Argentine would have called on his players to continue their dominance on the ball and try and tire Rovers out to net a crucial second goal.
Jon Dahl Tomasson’s half-time thoughts would have been relatively pleased with the manner in which his side had taken the game to the hosts, despite being behind at the break and not having as much possession as they would have normally been comfortable with. The Rovers boss would have been full of praise for his side given the chances they had created and the fact they had remained relatively solid, given the quality that the hosts possessed.
Rovers restarted the second-half, looking to try and give their fans something to celebrate as they tried to get back into the game and potentially claim a great scalp.
Their chance to draw level came just 60 seconds into the second period as James Hill played a fantastic ball into the path of Harry Leonard who used his pace to get the better of Axel Disasi, before miscalculating the finish as his left-footed effort skewed narrowly past the far-post.
In the 57th minute, Enzo Fernández saw another attempt at goal well-saved by Wahlstedt.
Moments later, Cole Palmer was afforded another opportunity to strike at goal as he twisted and turned away from the Rovers backline, but the Swedish shot-stopper was on-hand to tip the ball over the bar.
In the 59th minute, Chelsea’s dominance eventually paid off as Rovers played the ball perfectly into the hands of their Premier League opponents. Rovers tried to play out from the back and were beaten to the punch by the speed of Cole Palmer as he fed Raheem Sterling who was unmarked on the edge of the area. The winger didn’t even need to control the ball as it drifted into the box before he curled an effort past a out of positioned Wahlstedt before wheeling away in celebration of 2-0.
Just before the restart, Rovers made a double change as Scott Wharton replaced Hayden Carter, who was struggling in the aftermath of the goal, whilst Tyrhys Dolan took the place of Dilan Markanday.
With 67 minutes gone, Chelsea were again forwards looking for a third as Sterling fed Jackson who failed to get his effort on target.
Moments later, Palmer was looking for a goal of his own to add to his previous assist, but his effort deflected off James Hill, before veering behind via the upright as Chelsea were awarded a corner.
Sterling was the next to try and extend Chelsea’s lead as he pulled off a fantastic mazy run to leave a few Rovers bodies in his wake before his effort inside the box was blocked.
The 74th minute saw Rovers make another double change as Niall Ennis and Arnór Sigurðsson replaced Andy Moran and Harry Leonard.
In almost amazing circumstances, it took Jake Garrett 81 minutes to get booked as he took out Enzo Fernández.
In the 84th minute Adam Wharton picked out Garrett in the middle but the midfielder’s nod cleared the Chelsea crossbar.
As four minutes of time were added on at the end of the game, the final chance of the encounter fell Rovers’ way as they came close to potentially making it a nervy final few moments. Garrett played a fantastic through ball in-behind the Chelsea backline, as Arnór Sigurðsson latched onto the pass. The Icelandic international was through on goal with just Robert Sánchez to beat and although he hesitated to try and potentially pick out Ennis or Dolan, he eventually tried to find the near-post before being foiled by the Spanish goalkeeper, as Chelsea cleared the corner before Tim Robinson blew for full-time, as the Lancashire side crashed out of the cup at the same round as last campaign.
Whilst the odds of Rovers actually producing an upset at the Bridge against Chelsea were near astronomical, Jon Dahl Tomasson, the players and the supporters can take heart in that Rovers managed to stick to their principles and put together a satisfactory performance against a side flooded with riches. Another aspect that the visitors can be pleased with was the fact they managed to keep the Londoners at bay for the opening half an hour of the game, which deserves praise given that the value of Nicolas Jackson alone, was four times higher than Rovers’ record spend of £8m jointly held by Andy Cole in 2001 & Jordan Rhodes in 2012.
With Rovers’ attentions now back on the Championship until the FA Cup kicks off in January, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s men will have to wait until Sunday 5th November to return to action as they make the long arduous and early trip to Norwich City for the midday (12pm) start in a game which will be beamed on Sky Sports – meaning fans will have to depart Lancashire at 4am(!) Following their trip to Norfolk where Rovers will be looking for a hattrick of consecutive wins there, they will return to Ewood Park before the season’s third international break to host local rivals Preston North End on Friday 10th November, in a game that will also be on Sky Sports at 8pm. Once the players return from their break, they will make the trip to Stoke City on Saturday 25th November for the 3pm start.
