A first clean-sheet of 2024 and their first goalless away draw since January 2022 saw Rovers stifled in South Wales as they held on for a valuable point as John Eustace’s side clipped the wings of the Bluebirds who attempted to soar to victory with their domination of the attempts at goal.
After Rovers were moving into their second game in four days, John Eustace made three changes to the side that were pegged back and thrashed out a 2-2 draw with Preston North End at the weekend. One change was enforced, as John Fleck was taken off early on Saturday, with Jake Garrett replacing him tonight against Cardiff City as he did at Deepdale after 17 minutes. The second alteration from kick-off saw Yasin Ayari take the place of Tyrhys Dolan – who dropped to the bench – as the Swede came in for his full Rovers debut, whilst the third swap saw Ben Chrisene replaced Ryan Hedges at left-wing-back as Rovers persisted with their five-back system.
There was a return to the matchday squad for the first-time since August for John Buckley, who had spent most of the campaign on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, before being recalled due to injury. Liverpool loanee, Billy Koumetio was also available in a Rovers matchday squad, as John Eustace saw his reserves boosted. Meanwhile, Sam Gallagher who was in a rich vein of form with three in his last five games was set to accrue his 150th Rovers league start, which has spanned across his two spells.
With around 300 Blues making the arduous trip over to South Wales, Rovers emerged from the tunnel looking to return to winning ways, having not won in their previous two. They were looking to heap further misery on the Bluebirds by making it a hattrick of victories against Erol Bulut’s side, having already beaten them at Ewood Park twice; the first being a 5-2 victory in the Carabao Cup, before a sole Joe Rankin-Costello finish guaranteed Rovers a 1-0 win back in October.
As 7:45pm ticked over on the clock, referee Leigh Doughty’s opening whistle saw the home side get the game underway as they were aiming to quell a run of three successive home defeats, by grabbing what would be a second successive home win against the Lancashire side, after beating them 1-0 in South Wales last season.
The start of the game was much like the South Wales weather; poor. It took 13 minutes until the game’s first attempt at goal materialised when Dimitrios Goutas tried to replicate the disallowed goal he scored in October at Ewood Park, but his nod was saved by Aynsley Pears.
Three minutes later, Dominic Hyam looked to try and channel in his inner Tugay Kerimoğlu and try a shot from range, but unlike the Turk, the skipper’s shot didn’t even threaten Ethan Horvath in the home goal.
With 25 minutes gone, Karlan Grant registered the first shot on target of the night as he got in-behind Rovers and took a shot from just outside the six-yard box, but the lively Pears did well to deny the former Huddersfield Town man.
Dominic Hyam became the first player to be booked on the evening after he fouled Ruben Colwill.
A less than exhilarating first period was soon brought to a close by Leigh Doughty after two minutes of time was added onto the end of the first-half, as both sets of supporters would have wanted their side to return in the second-half with more pizzazz to their performances.
During the interval, Erol Bulut would have been trying to breathe some confidence into his players who haven’t tasted victory on home turf for a while. The Turk would have been quick to encourage his side for the few chances that they had created during the game’s opening half, but would have also warned them over Rovers’ counter-attacking threat.
John Eustace would have been forgiven for scratching his head after the less than desirable performance that he’d witnessed during the opening 45 minutes. The new boss would have been quick to remind his side of their principles of attacking play and wanted them to try and up the temperature on a cold evening.
As the players returned for the second period, it was Rovers who got the ball rolling for the second-half. Eustace’s side were looking to do the double over Cardiff City in the league, without conceding a goal in either fixture, for the first time since 1926-27.
In the 48th minute, Josh Bowler appeared as he tried to sneak one in, but Pears was on-hand to make a stop at the near-post as Cardiff won a corner.
The set-piece was played short to Grant who again saw his effort from range saved by Pears for another corner.
As Cardiff’s dominance continued, the 52nd minute saw Pears again in gear as he remained switched on to deny Kion Etete a third league goal of the season.
Five minutes later, Grant was again causing Pears problems as the forward’s free-kick narrowly zipped past the left-hand post for a goal-kick.
The first change of the game came with the break in-play as Andrew Moran replaced Yasin Ayari.
A John Eustace double change soon followed with 61 minutes gone as Tyrhys Dolan and John Buckley replaced Sam Gallagher and Jake Garrett.
With 64 minutes gone, Rovers finally managed to test Ethan Horvath as Callum Brittain and Sondre Tronstad both saw their shots blocked in succession before the free ball fell to Tyrhys Dolan who forced the American goalkeeper into a save.
A second Rovers booking soon appeared and was given to Tronstad who brought down Grant on the halfway line, in the 66th minute.
Cardiff’s first change came with 67 minutes gone as Ollie Tanner took the place of Josh Bowler.
John Buckley also saw yellow in the 75th minute as Rovers tallied up more bookings than shots for the evening, with three-to-one thus far.
With 78 minutes gone, a second and third Cardiff City change came as former Celtic winger, David Turnbull replaced Rubin Colwill, whilst Famara Diédhiou came on for Kion Etete.
The game eventually petered out as the 90th minute appeared on the watch with referee Leigh Doughty adding on a minimum of three minutes onto the end of a game that both sets of supporters wished they never left the house to watch.
The final act of the game came in the 93rd minute as Dimitrios Goutas became the only City player to see a booking after he brought down Sondre Tronstad moments before the final whistle.
Whilst the game won’t be remembered by any of each side’s respective supporters, it shows that Rovers have at least managed to stop the rot of conceding silly goals, despite that coming at the expense of some of their fluidity going forwards. With this being their first goalless draw since January 2022’s bout with Luton Town at Kenilworth Road, their first clean-sheet of 2024 come nearly three months in and now gives them a platform of solidity in which to build off heading into the final 13 games of the campaign. Rovers have also stopped Cardiff City netting against them, home and away. This is the first time the Blues have managed to do that to a team this season, having achieved double shutouts against Blackpool, Swansea and Hull City in 2022-23.
Following other results tonight which were also rescheduled due to FA Cup involvements, Rovers at the moment sit in 16th place with 38 points from 33 games, despite remaining on their negative -12 goal-difference.
John Eustace’s men are back on home turf this weekend as they welcome the yellow and green of Norwich City to Ewood Park at 3pm on Saturday 24th February. After they clash with David Wagner’s side, it’s another Tuesday evening fixture, in seven days’ time, as Newcastle United and the Geordie nation arrive at Ewood Park for their FA Cup Fifth Round do with Rovers on Tuesday 27th February at 7:45pm. After a home double header, Rovers’ next away game sees them back in South Wales as they make the journey to Swansea City on Saturday 2nd March for the 3 o’clock start.
