After Rovers slumped to their first defeat in 18 games – after a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Plymouth Argyle at Home Park saw their unbeaten run in the league, which spanned over 3 months, come to an end – Blues’ boss Tony Mowbray faced the clubs’ media team to discuss and reflect on a game that has disturbed Rovers’ fight for promotion.
“It’s always disappointing when you don’t win a football match. I’m disappointed for the supporters who made the long trip down and I’m also disappointed that the unbeaten run has gone, but it had to end sometime. We just have to take this defeat on the chin, move on and see how we react in our next game. During this unbeaten run, there have been times where we’ve been a lot worse than today’s performance and there have been times where we have been a lot better than today’s performance.
“I think in the first-half, we didn’t get to the energy levels that we’ve been getting to in recent games to be honest, which is partly my fault because of the team that I picked because there’s a balance between confident players, who have done well over the last week and picking a team that was full of energy and drive, which includes hungry players with a point to prove. It’s the third game that we’ve had in a week and ultimately, I think the lack of energy in the first-half cost us. We could have still been playing now and not scored, we’re disappointed with the goals we’ve conceded and with the energy levels in the first-half, despite the second-half being marginally better.
“Looking back at the game in hindsight is always easy, because you can see where you went wrong in terms of changes and alterations to the team both tactically and personnel-wise. I made the changes that I did in bringing on Corry Evans and Joe Nuttall because I saw something that I thought they could affect, and yet we probably just needed a bit more creativity, maybe it was a day for Jack Payne to come on with his ability to pick out a pass because they had a lot of men behind the ball which we found hard to break down. It was a difficult day for us which we have to accept with no excuses, we need to get on with it, keep working hard because we’ve still got a third of the season left to go. We’ve still got a lot of games and a lot of points to play for.”
Mowbray was questioned as to whether the focus, now for Rovers, was on how the team bounced back after such a morally damaging defeat.
“Defeats are part and parcel of football; the team have to work hard during the week in order to prepare for the next game. They’ve been doing that all along this unbeaten run, so I have no fears about them not trying or preparing properly. We have to deal with the disappointment today and move onto next weekend. We can only look after ourselves as for me, the results of Wigan and Shrewsbury aren’t as significant. There will be some weeks where the results will go for you and there will be some weeks where the results go against you as it has done today, but as I said, there are still a lot of games left to go, we need to remain positive, keep looking forward to the next challenge, work hard in training and get ready for the visit of Oldham next Saturday.”
