A second-half comeback by Rovers, led by captain Charlie Mulgrew, saw the Blues turn around a disappointing first-half performance, into a hard-earned draw, against Oldham Athletic.
Tony Mowbray’s usual pre-match interview saw the Rovers manager highlight the need for Rovers to put last week’s defeat away at Plymouth Argyle behind them and that a win in this fixture against Oldham would be the catalyst for Rovers to start another unbeaten run, in order to gain some momentum and catch Wigan Athletic and Shrewbury Town, who currently occupy the automatic promotion spots.
The team that the Rovers boss chose, saw two changes to the side that was defeated at Plymouth last weekend; Craig Conway and Adam Armstrong dropped to the bench and were replaced by Jack Payne and Charlie Mulgrew, respectively. Mulgrew, who had limped out of the Northampton game a few weeks ago, missed the Walsall and Plymouth games due to injury, however the skipper had been deemed fit for this encounter – and after last week – it seemed that Rovers badly needed him.
The game was kicked-off by Rovers, who went on the attack, straight from the off, through Danny Graham. From the kick-off, Bradley Dack managed to feed the ball to Jack Payne, who took no time in threading Graham through on goal as the Oldham defence looked as if they were still in the changing room during the opening seconds of the game. Payne’s pass found its way into the path of Graham whose effort was well saved by Johny Placide in the visiting goal.
From Placide’s kick, Oldham were soon up the other end of the field, as the clock ticked over into the 2nd minute. Former Bolton and Preston forward Craig Davies had plucked the ball out of the air and ran towards goal, using his power and strength to resist any Rovers challenge. Once he had reached the area, Davies had seemingly gone down under a challenge by Charlie Mulgrew, which at first glance, looked like a penalty; however luckily for Rovers, Darren Drysdale, the referee waved the appeals away.
Craig Davies was soon in on goal again, seconds after the penalty appeals were dismissed. The Welshman beat the Rovers offside trap before steading himself in the Rovers area and releasing a placed effort towards the goal, which David Raya was equal to, as the Spaniard managed to get down well to prevent Oldham going in-front.
On the 9th minute, Rovers were on the attack once again, and they missed a chance of going ahead in the game after Richie Smallwood’s effort flew wide of the target. Bradley Dack received the ball and played a pass into the feet of Graham, who did well to keep the move flowing, by laying the ball off first time to Richie Smallwood. The midfielder wasted no time in taking a touch, as his effort flew wide of the goal.
On the 26th minute, Rovers began to rue their missed opportunities as Duckens Nazon, on loan from Wolves, did spectacularly well to crown his driven individual run with the finish it deserved, to put Oldham in-front at Ewood Park. The Frenchman brought down Placide’s distribution and began a run that saw him take the ball past Ryan Nyambe and Richie Smallwood, as he opened his box of tricks, full of ball-rolls and stepovers. The forward also had enough composure to stop the ball from being blocked by Paul Downing, who slid in to make a block, as he coolly stroked the ball underneath the keeper, who despite getting a foot on it, failed to keep it out.
2 minutes after Oldham went in-front, Rovers created the next chance of the game through Jack Payne. The Huddersfield loanee was able to win the ball in the middle of the park, before lifting his head and releasing an ambitious effort from around 25-yards out, which saw the ball fly wide of Placide’s goal.
On the 32nd minute, Ben Pringle – on loan from Preston – became the first player to find his name in the referee’s notebook as he was booked for stopping Rovers from taking a quick free-kick.
It took 13 minutes for Rovers’ afternoon to go from bad, to worse, as on the 39th minute, Duckens Nazon was on the beneficiary of a lethal Oldham counter-attack, which saw the Frenchman slot in his 2nd of the afternoon. Dan Gardner played in a well weighted pass with the outside of his foot, into Nazon’s path, which allowed the forward to use his pace to good effect as he advanced on the retreating Rovers backline. The forward wasted no time in shooting on goal, once he had made it into the box, as he fired a shot into the far, right-hand corner of David Raya’s goal, as the ball made its way into the bottom corner of the net, allowing Nazon to wheel away in celebration, whilst also sending the 2,294 travelling supporters into ecstasy.
Right before half-time, on the 44th minute, Elliott Bennett tried his luck from range as he shot towards goal, in the hope that he could repeat some of his wonder strikes from last season. Unluckily for the midfielder, and for the Rovers fans, Bennett’s effort was catching practice for the Oldham goalkeeper, as Placide made a comfortable save.
During the 2 minutes of added time at the end of the first period, Ousmane Fane was booked for a foul on a Rovers man, which saw Oldham’s booking count increase to two inside the first 45 minutes.
The first-half was soon ended by Mr. Drysdale, as Rovers left the field to a chorus of deserved boos. The Blues had created little, bar the Graham attempt inside the first minute, to get the home crowd excited about, and with the score looking like a heavy mountain to climb for Rovers, the fans had seemingly resigned themselves to a second successive defeat. Oldham on the other hand, would have been overjoyed with their performance. They had come to Ewood Park and used their physicality and pace to their advantage with both their goals coming via the quick breakaway.
As the players all came out for the second-half, Rovers made two changes in personnel, as well as a change in formation, as they sought to try and get back into the game. The substitutions saw Paul Downing and Richie Smallwood be replaced by Lewis Travis and Adam Armstrong respectively, whereas the system change that Tony Mowbray implicated, saw the Blues switch into a 5-3-2 formation, with Lewis Travis, Ryan Nyambe, Charlie Mulgrew, Derrick Williams and Amari’i Bell making up the back-line for Rovers. The midfield trio included Bradley Dack, Elliott Bennett and Jack Payne, whilst Danny Graham and Adam Armstrong led the line, up-top.
Once everyone was ready, Oldham kicked off the second-half and within minutes, Craig Davies managed to fashion another opening for the visitors. The 32-year old managed to create a shooting opportunity at goal, however he was superbly blocked by Ryan Nyambe, who got in the way of the forward’s low effort.
Oldham were beginning to secure their hold on the game as, on the 58th minute, Cameron Dummigan struck a powerful shot from around 25-yards, that was well saved by Raya.
On the 60th minute, Danny Graham missed the chance to get Rovers back into the game as he glanced a header from a Mulgrew corner, which went wide of Placide’s goal.
A minute later, Charlie Mulgrew had a free-kick from around 30-yards out, which stung the palms of Placide as the keeper was forced to concede a corner.
From the corner, the ball was cleared by Oldham, only as far as the edge of the box, which forced Craig Davies into a challenge, causing the forward to pick-up a booking for his troubles. The subsequent free-kick saw Charlie Mulgrew step over the ball and study his angles, which turned out to be perfect, as he got Rovers back into the game with a solid left-footed strike which flew into the left-hand side of the net, leaving Placide stranded.
From the kick-off, Rovers managed to regain possession and push for an equaliser, on the 64th minute. Elliott Bennett stormed down the right-hand side, only to be hacked down by Wilfried Moimbe, who received a yellow card for his troubles.
3 minutes later, Graham, once again managed to head over the bar, from a Mulgrew corner, as Rovers desperately began to find a way to snatch an equaliser, with around 20 minutes left on the clock.
With the constant pushes in order to try and level the scoring, the breakthrough finally came on the 71st minute, when Newcastle loanee, Adam Armstrong capped off his 21st birthday with his first Rovers goal and the equaliser. The ball was played forward by the Blues, as Graham met the ball and nodded it into the path of Bradley Dack, who used his speed to get past the defender, before angling a pass back into the feet of Armstrong, who swept the ball into the bottom corner of the goal, to the delight of the home crowd.
Off the back of the goal, Oldham made two substitutions in retaliation, as they brought on a midfielder and a forward. Tope Obadeyi and Aaron Amadi-Holloway were both introduced in-place of Jack Byrne and Duckens Nazon.
As the Rovers pressure increased, the home crowd got more and more vocal as Jack Payne nearly turned the game on its head to put Rovers into the lead on the 79th minute. After cutting in from the right-hand side, Payne received the ball from Bradley Dack before cutting in on his stronger left-foot and releasing a piledriver of a shot, towards goal. With the ball looking destined to break the net, the complete comeback was denied thanks to the strong right-hand of Johny Placide, who pulled off a sublime save to deny Payne.
Minutes later, Armstrong nearly doubled his tally after getting his head on the end of Elliott Bennett’s cross. The forward used his pace to get beyond his man and reach the ball, however unfortunately for him and for the fans, the header looped wide of the far post, despite leaving the Oldham keeper rooted to the spot.
On the 82nd minute, Wilfried Moimbe was given his marching orders after making a second, forceful tackle on Elliott Bennett, which saw the midfielder clatter to the ground. The French defender was given a second yellow card meaning that his teammates had to try and withstand the barrage of Rovers attacks with only 10 men.
Oldham made their final change on the 85th minute as Craig Davies departed and was replaced by Brian Wilson, in an attempt to sure up their defence in the final minutes, plus stoppage time.
3 minutes after the Oldham substitution, Rovers could have made it 3-2 had Adam Armstrong’s effort been on target. The forward picked the ball up from around 20 yards out and shot towards goal, however it was nowhere near troubling Placide.
As the clock ticked over to 90 minutes, 8 minutes of time was added onto the end of the game, following a couple of stoppages in which the Oldham players had to receive treatment.
On the 94th minute, Derrick Williams rose the highest in the box to meet a corner, but Placide did well to deny, and hold onto the ball as the time dwindled out.
By the 98th minute, the half was all Rovers, and despite the Blues having a plethora of chances and possession, they were unable to go in-front.
The referee blew the final whistle and brought to an end, a game which Rovers would have been glad to achieve something from, given the effort that they put in during the second 45 minutes of play.
With the hard-earned point in the bag, Rovers will no doubt be disappointed that they were unable to capitalise on a relatively poor Oldham side and not get the three points that would have helped a lot in their push for automatic promotion. Following defeats to rivals Wigan Athletic and Shrewsbury Town, at the hands of Southend United and Plymouth Argyle, respectively, the top of League One looks like this; Wigan are top with 29 games played, 63 points and a positive goal difference of 40, Shrewsbury are second with 30 games played, 60 points and a positive goal difference of 17, whilst Rovers remain in 3rd with 31 games played, 59 points and a positive goal difference of 25.
Despite Rovers’ failure to capitalise on poor results around them, this spirited comeback will, in no doubt, remain as a lesson to the side for conceding two goals in the manner in which they did. Alternatively, the spirit, commitment and passion showed in the fightback will also stand in good stead for the remainder of the season, as it showed that Rovers were able to overhaul any deficit.
Rovers are next in action on Tuesday 13th February, as the Blues make the long trip back down to the south coast, this time to face Portsmouth, in a clash which sees two former Premier League sides, butt heads. The game after that for Rovers, is on Monday 19th February, as they host Bury at Ewood Park, which is also a game to which Sky Sports have selected for television coverage.
