Following Rovers’ convincing 3-1 victory over bottom-half strugglers Walsall, Rovers’ manager Tony Mowbray spoke to the clubs’ media team and summed up his views regarding the performance of his side.
“It should have been more than three, but we nearly shot ourselves in the foot by giving away a stupid goal, which Walsall didn’t really have to work hard for. After the number of great chances that we had in the first-half, it would have been nicer to go into the break at 2-0 or more, rather than 2-1, which made the game seem less comfortable. The lads were disappointed that they weren’t ahead by more and there was a great resolve at half-time and they went out to win the second-half. We started the second-half brightly by scoring in the first minute, we had other chances which we should have taken, and we were strong defensively, bar the moment at the death where Elliott Bennett had to bail us out. Despite that, I’m happy enough with the performance of my boys and with total respect to Walsall, I would have hoped to have put pressure on them, like we did today and ask questions of them, yet we know what football’s like and how quickly things can change. I think Walsall were more adventurous than Northampton were at the weekend, which allowed us to get into the spaces they had vacated, exploit them and score the goals that we deserved.
“Tonight, was a showing of how good Danny Graham can be. The first goal was a fantastic finish in which he smashed the ball home from a tight angle and his second goal was a portrayal of his great strength, power and heading ability. He wasn’t going to play against Northampton, to be honest because I hadn’t begun to watch and analyse Walsall properly, yet when I watched them and saw how they played, I thought that he could give their right centre-half some physical problems, so we played him. I thought that three games a week could have been a big ask for him, so I thought I’d rest him in this one to get him ready for Saturday’s game at Plymouth, yet having seen their centre-half, with all due respect to him, I thought Danny could give him some problems, which ultimately helped us. Overall, our game plan worked, the intensity and the front-foot pressing got us the win that we needed.
“Danny knows the way I work. I analyse the next team and if I think that it’s a game for speed and power in behind, I’ll leave him on the bench. He’s a specific type of striker and he’s been fantastic for us. His goal return over the past dozen or so has been amazing, so I hope he’s enjoying his football and I hope we can continue to utilise him, but Danny knows how I am, if I think a team is going to press us and play high, with total respect to him, there’s no point in playing him as he’s not going to run away from defenders and score goals, he needs the ball working in the box and in an around the final third for him to score goals. I think he’s got a great understanding with Bradley (Dack), but we’re happy enough tonight, it was a decent performance and a much needed three points after Saturday’s frustrations which puts us back up to 2nd in the league. Had we beaten Northampton, we would have been sitting at the top of the table, with Wigan’s game being postponed tonight, however saying that, we still have a lot of games to go, so we just need to keep going.
“I think our third goal took some sting out of the air as all of their attacks at 2-1 would have been a bit nervous as we were pressing quite high, leaving our defence quite exposed and that would have caused some anxiety amongst the crowd. The third goal just settled us down and allowed us to retain possession of the ball and see if we could get a fourth on the break.
“I thought Jack (Payne) and Adam (Armstrong) did alright today out wide. I ask a lot from my wide players physically and it would have been asking a lot from Craig (Conway) and Dominic (Samuel) for them to keep pressuring and moving up and down the field for the third game in a week which is very demanding. I’m conscious of people pulling hamstrings and breaking down if I’m screaming at them for 90 minutes to keep pressing and pushing. You need players you can trust, who you can play in different games and different scenarios. Hopefully they all buy into it and know that they’re not being dropped due to a poor performance, they’re being rested due to the fact that everyone in the squad needs to contribute, work hard and believe in what we’re doing.”
Mowbray concluded the interview by talking about Adam Armstrong, who did everything in the game bar find the back of the net as a result of a solid individual performance by the Walsall goalkeeper, Liam Roberts, between the sticks.
“I’m just pleased that Adam’s getting into the correct positions and having chances, I’m pleased that we’re creating chances for him or he’s creating them himself. He must have had a dozen shots today, which he’s either crafted for himself or has been set up for and if he keeps shooting, he will score, we just need to be positive about his performance and encourage him as I’m sure he’ll start putting those chances away in the coming weeks.”
