Blackburn Rovers grabbed their first win in three games, as they made light work of Wrexham AFC at Ewood Park on Monday night, via a 4-1 scoreline to set up a home clash with Newcastle United. Former Toon forward and current Rovers Head Coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson was left purring after his side’s dominant victory over the Welsh side and offered his thoughts on the Fourth Round fixture to RoversTV.
“Tonight was a very good performance. We know that knockout games are the be all and end all in the FA Cup and you have to win every game! It’s not always easy, especially against a Wrexham team who have had a lot of joy in this cup, both this season and last season. They knocked Coventry City out, last year and took Sheffield United to a replay. I thought we started the game really well and we could have been 2-0 up after four minutes and then we had a third chance, before we made a mistake and gave the first goal away, which can happen in football. I thought the fans and the team stayed calm to generate a great atmosphere that allowed us to go on and score three goals before half-time.
“We spoke about it at half-time; we wanted to play quicker and have more runs and I thought we did that well in the second-half. The speed of the game was quicker, we scored a good goal and created a lot of chances, when in control of the game. It was great to win the game and get through to the Fifth Round against a huge team in Newcastle United, here at Ewood Park. I’m pleased to be playing the game here, rather than away, because I’d love a big game at Ewood!
“The three goals we scored in the first-half were well deserved, because we should have led after five minutes, in my opinion! Goals change games, which is why I’m pleased that we’ve scored 26 goals in both domestic cup competitions, this season. I don’t know if that’s a record, but it’s surely up there. We have Sammie Szmodics adding to his goal tally. He’s the (joint) top scorer in the Championship and also, now, in the FA Cup, which is great.
“It’s also good to see Sam Gallagher get a goal, because he’s a boy we’ve been missing a lot in the four months that he’s been out. It was good to see Tyrhys Dolan get his first start in two months, as it was with Joe Rankin-Costello who played for the first time in around three months. It’s been a positive day, because, alongside the result, we’ve been able to get minutes into these lads’ legs to help increase their fitness over time. Sam (Gallagher) made a great run in-behind and we played it really quickly down the wing for him. Goals are really important for strikers. We could say it isn’t, but then we’d be lying!
“Sondre (Tronstad) scored a good goal, which has finally come for him, but he also created a fantastic assist for Szmodics. His performance was extremely positive, tonight. It was also good to see Ben (Chrisene) and Yasin (Ayari) earn minutes, today as they increased their familiarity with how we play, which is different to what they’re used to at their parent clubs.
“When I saw Newcastle United come out of the draw, I immediately thought about our first Champions League game against FC Barcelona at St. James’ Park, when we won it 3-2! That was an amazing moment, but, of course, they’re a big club that I still follow and keep an eye out for their results. But now, we’re not playing at St. James’ Park, we’re playing at Ewood Park. It will be a great game, hopefully for us. So far, in the FA Cup, both this season and last, we’ve been able to win against lower ranked sides, but we also won away at a Premier League side! We will have a go against a very good Premier League team, where we can hopefully make it an entertaining evening.
“A reunion with Newcastle is almost fate! But I was just happy to see that we were playing at home, because we’ve played a lot of our big games away from Ewood. Now, we have a huge game for our fans, who will help create a togetherness at home. Today was a great night and we created many memories, as we did last season away from home, and we could create more memories in the next round, together with a big attendance.
“Callum Brittain picked up an ankle injury this week. We’re, of course, disappointed to lose another player to injury. We know we’ve been stretched the whole season and adding more injuries is not ideal, but hopefully we’ll be able to add more new players before the deadline on Wednesday.”
