A wet and windy Ewood Park was ignited by a late comeback by Birmingham City who blew away a stunned Rovers side, with a pair of goals, in as many minutes, following a meltdown by Tony Mowbray’s team, which undoubtedly left both the manager and the fans frustrated, come the full-time whistle.
In the build-up to the fixture, Tony Mowbray had talked about the attacking aerial threat of the visiting forwards, highlighting prolific striker, Lukas Jutkiewicz – who had scored 10 goals in the league this season – as the Brummies’ main threat at Rovers’ goal.
The team that the boss picked to face Garry Monk’s visiting side, saw 2 changes to the team that had drawn 1-1 against Middlesbrough, a week ago. Amari’i Bell and Darragh Lenihan were both recalled to the starting-11 at the expense of Derrick Williams and Paul Downing, both of whom were relegated to the bench.
The game was kicked-off by the visitors, who were looking to bounce back to winning ways, following a 1-0 defeat at home to Bristol City in their last outing.
Rovers started the brighter of the sides as with only seconds on the clock, Bradley Dack tried to find Danny Graham with a through ball that narrowly veered from the striker’s path and ended up in the hands of City ‘keeper, Lee Camp.
The bright start continued as referee Tony Harrington was called upon, early doors, to make a decision on what looked like a foul, on Darragh Lenihan, after the recalled centre-back was seemingly pulled down to the floor in the midst of Harrison Reed’s corner, however the man in the middle, waved play on, despite Rovers’ protests.
The game soon fizzled out, due to the blistery weather conditions, however on the 9th minute, Birmingham were forced into an early change after Marc Roberts went down and received treatment, before being deemed not fit to continue. The 28-year old was soon withdrawn and replaced with Wes Harding.
On the 18th minute, Rovers won a free-kick on the left-side of Birmingham’s half. Rovers, however, much like Birmingham, were forced to make an unanticipated change after Craig Conway called to be replaced after seemingly becoming injured. The Scottish midfielder, who had his 400th career start cut short, was replaced by Adam Armstrong who took Conway’s position on the left-hand side of midfield.
The bad news of Conway’s departure was forgotten about seconds later, after Reed’s cross into the box, from the set-piece, resulted in the game’s opening goal. The cross by the on-loan Southampton man was lofted directly above the penalty spot, which allowed Danny Graham’s sublime movement to get ahead of his marker and deftly nod the ball over the advancing Camp to put Rovers 1-0 up.
On the 29th minute, Ryan Nyambe had a chance to tee-up Dack, who was lurking on the edge of the area. The full-back found the playmaker who hit a first-time shot that skewed wide of Camp’s goal, earning the ‘keeper a goal-kick.
2 minutes later, Birmingham burst into life as they racked up their first shot of the game. Maikel Kieftenbeld slotted Che Adams through, down the right-hand side, as the forward dashed into the box before taking a touch and firing towards goal. Fortunately for Rovers’ sleeping centre-backs, Raya was awake enough to bail them out with a routine save.
From Raya’s distribution, Rovers mounted another attack which again, ended in a Birmingham goal-kick. The ball found its way to Corry Evans who tried his luck from 25-yards out. Although the Northern Irish international had extended his stay at the club during the week, after he had signed a new contract, he wasn’t able to mark the occasion with a goal, as his finish ballooned over the bar.
Minutes after Evans’ attempt, both Armstrong and former Rover, Connor Mahoney, had respective chances to curl their sides into the lead. First came Armstrong’s attempt, as the substitute did well to find space on the wing and receive Dack’s pass, before cutting inside and releasing his effort, which was blocked and cleared. From the clearance, the ball made its way to Connor Mahoney, after a passing move, which resulted in the winger, unlike Armstrong, getting his shot away. Although the shot was met by a chorus of boos from the home crowd, the boos soon turned into jeers of mockery, as Mahoney’s shot curl wide of Raya’s upright.
With the break approaching, Birmingham crafted a pair of desperate attempts at goal, in the hope that they would enter the break on level terms. The first effort came from Che Adams, whose shot deflected off Richie Smallwood, before trickling into the hands of Raya. A minute later, Jutkiewicz found space in the box, before his shot was again denied by the Spaniard between Rovers’ posts.
Although the referee added on 3 minutes of time on the end of the half, due to the injury and set-piece stoppages, nothing much came from the allocated time, as the half-time whistle was soon blown.
During the interval, Tony Mowbray would have been the happier of the managers, due to his team’s slender advantage. Despite the obvious calls for a second goal, the gaffer would have undoubtedly been calling on his side to be wary of Birmingham’s attacking prowess, both from the starting-11 and from the bench, especially with players like Jota and Omar Bogle at their disposal.
Garry Monk in the Brum dressing room however, would have probably been taking a more aggressive approach to his team-talk, following his side’s passive first-half display. Despite a late flurry in the final couple of minutes of the half, Birmingham showed no real attacking threat that would have worried Tony Mowbray at the break.
Following their chats at half-time, both teams returned as Rovers restarted the game looking to extend their lead in order to try and kill the game off as soon as possible.
The second goal took no more than a minute to appear, as Adam Armstrong found the back of the net with a wonderful left-footed strike, from a tight angle. Dack – who claimed his tenth assist of the campaign – got hold of the ball inside the Birmingham box, near the byline, before he backheeled the ball into Armstrong’s path, who took a touch to steady himself, before releasing a delightful left-foot shot that seemingly went through Camp and ended up in the back of the net for 2-0.
With 50 minutes, gone, Rovers again had a penalty appeal waved away by the referee after Dack claimed to have been hauled to the ground, however Harrington, the official, was having none of Dack’s protests, as he waved play on.
Minutes later, Rovers advanced again, as Smallwood slipped in Reed, who hit a strong shot towards goal, which produced a fine save by Camp.
The visitors were soon on the attack again, as Che Adams was gifted possession on the edge of Rovers’ box, but before the forward could pull the trigger, he saw the ball pickpocketed by Charlie Mulgrew.
With 55 minutes gone, Monk decided to change his side up with a double change that saw Connor Mahoney and Maikel Kieftenbeld depart and be replaced by Gary Gardner and Jota.
A minute after the change, Rovers had a free-kick which resulted in Lenihan heading the ball wide of the mark.
After 69 minutes, Danny Graham departed and was replaced by Ben Brereton, who came on with the intent on grabbing his first in the Blue and White of Rovers.
On the 73rd minute, Che Adams was given a booking for persistent fouling.
4 minutes later, on the 77th minute, Birmingham found themselves with a penalty, and a route back into the game, after David Raya’s rash decision making led to him fouling Maxime Colin. The penalty was taken by substitute Gary Gardner, who stepped up and blasted the ball down the middle of the goal as the on-loan Aston Villa midfielder got the Blues back into the game from the spot.
From the kick-off, Rovers nearly made it 3-1, as the ball fell to the path of Brereton, who was outmuscled by a Birmingham man, as Lee Camp emerged in control of the ball, following a scramble between both sides.
On the 79th minute, the away side levelled up the game, after some poor positional play and some terrible decision-making by Amari’i Bell, saw Birmingham dispossess the full-back and work their way into the box for Che Adams to poke home. Bell, who picked up the ball in this left-back area, cut inside and drove forwards, however was easily dispossessed inside his own half. This dispossession led to a short spell of possession by Birmingham as Craig Gardner played through Jutkiewicz, who hit a first-time ball across the box, which gave Adams the freedom to find the back of the net with ease as he drew the scoring back level at 2-2.
With 4 minutes to go on the clock, Birmingham ramped up the pressure as Jutkiewicz saw his cross headed out for a corner, by Lenihan, which came to nothing.
As the clock hit 90 minutes, Smallwood floated in a free-kick, which Dack nodded back across goal to Harrison Reed whose subsequent header was soon cleared away frantically by the visitors.
3 minutes of time were added onto the end of the game, as Rovers piled on the pressure and went searching for a late winner.
With a minute left until full-time, both Smallwood and Craig Gardner were booked for successive tackles.
The final chance of the tie came to Rovers and Charlie Mulgrew, who couldn’t manage to turn the ball from Lenihan’s cross, as Birmingham survived a late scare to secure a point, despite their lack of threat at goal.
Of course, the ultimate frustration from this tie, would be the failure of the team to grab the 3 points from such an advantageous position. Despite the good attacking play and their ability to keep Monk’s side at bay, Rovers let all of their hard work go to waste as a result of some costly and frankly stupid individual errors by Raya and Bell and with the festive fixture pile-up against the likes of Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion on the horizon, 3 points in this game could have been vital for the overall picture of Rovers’ season.
Speaking of Rovers’ overall season, Mowbay’s men find themselves in 12th with a -4 goal difference and 31 points, which include 10 draws from the 22 games played.
From the conclusion of this game, Rovers’ festive fixture list becomes well and truly underway, with successive games against the top 6, starting with Norwich City at home, on 22nd December with kick-off at 3pm. After that, Mowbray’s men travel to Yorkshire on Boxing Day, to face Leeds United at Elland Road at 3pm, whilst Rovers’ final game of 2018 sees them remain in Yorkshire, but travel to face a high-flying Sheffield United side, on 29th December at 3pm.
