After Rovers blew a 2-0 lead at Griffin Park, which saw them finish the game on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline, a disappointed and frustrated Tony Mowbray reflected on a strange, but somewhat, familiar afternoon, to the club’s media team.
“The scoreline ultimately indicates that today was a tough afternoon for us. The game ran away from us because we lost our discipline in trying to grab a third, yet the result looks a bit harsh on us when you consider the game, as a whole. I think we gifted them a couple of goals, specifically their second and third. Their second was frustrating because it was from a wide free-kick where none of our lads reacted, when the ball was pulled back to the edge of the box. The third goal was also disappointing because David (Raya) made a decision to try and claim a ball that he was never going to get to. They were really soft goals and we can’t afford to give goals away against really good teams such as Brentford. Today has been a disappointing afternoon, but you can’t hide the fact that we’ve conceded 5 goals.
“The first-half was good I think, despite the disappointment of them getting back into the game at 2-1. I thought their first goal should have been chalked off because (Lewis) Travis was fouled. Unfortunately, the referee didn’t give a free-kick because Trav stayed on his feet, but that’s how things go. We’ve spiralled out of control after conceding on several occasions this season, which is something we have to keep working on. This mainly happens down to the fact that we lose some discipline, because the boys are so desperate to get back into the game, they start to neglect their defensive responsibilities to try and grab the equaliser which leaves us exposed on the counter, which against good teams like Brentford, can really hurt you.
“I thought we were value for 5 goals of our own today, however we weren’t as clinical as Brentford were, but it is what it is. We’ve lost 5-2 today against a good team, which we need to accept and move on. I do feel as if we could have kicked on and gone out of sight from our 2-0 advantage, yet I feel as if I’m regurgitating the words I said at Bristol City, where we also let the game run away from us and ended up losing 4-1 after going ahead. Today was a tough day, but we need to put the result behind us and begin to improve on our mistakes, whilst also turning our focus towards Bristol City, who come to Ewood Park next week.
“The injury situation doesn’t help, mainly due to the loss of the leadership qualities that the lads who came off injured, possess. Football, however, is a squad game. I have enough players knocking on my door asking to play, so when the chance for them to play does come, they need to make the most of it. The enforced substitutes didn’t help us, especially on the set-plays and yet I’m not going to stand here and make excuses for our display. We played against a good team who are good with the ball, which we knew coming into the affair. I thought we dealt with them well in the first-half, but I can’t say the same about the second-half and unfortunately, our frustrations come from the fact that we’ve gifted them some avoidable goals.
“Our main focus now, is towards the future. We need to react from this result by trying to string another set of positive results together, which starts with Bristol City, who are unbeaten in 11 league games at the moment, but, we’ll be prepared and ready to give them a game, as we did at Ashton Gate before the game got away from us. It’ll be a good test for us, because it will allow us to try and not be beaten home and away.
“As we speak, I don’t have an update on the injuries to Bradley (Dack), Danny (Graham), Darragh (Lenihan) or Corry (Evans). We need to see how they are during the week, get them in with the medical staff who will be able to assess them more thoroughly and provide us with a more accurate description of whether they’ll be out short-term or long-term. All we can hope for is that they respond to the treatment throughout the week. Unfortunately, injuries are part and parcel of football and we have to move on.”
