A scintillating performance by a revived Rovers side saw them all but secure their position in next year’s Championship season at the expense of a Derby County side, who slipped to 8th in the league table, as their playoff ambitions took a dent with only a handful of games left to play in the campaign.
Tony Mowbray came into this game making 5 changes to the side that dell to a narrow defeat against Stoke City on Saturday. Derrick Williams who fell into the centre-back spot alongside Darragh Lenihan, Lewis Travis, Harrison Reed, Craig Conway and Bradley Dack all returned to the side at the expense of skipper Charlie Mulgrew, Ryan Nyambe, Richie Smallwood, Corry Evans and Adam Armstrong, respectively, as Elliott Bennett – who slotted into right-back, took the captain’s armband for the tie. Whilst the changes occurred for Rovers, one man who kept his place was Amari’i Bell who was making his 50th appearance in the Blue and White halves of Rovers with his start in this game.
With the teams prepared to kick-off, it was Rovers who got the game underway with the hope of securing the potential victory that would see them hit 50 points for the season and virtually guarantee their safety in the division, despite the scare of relegation creeping into the minds of many supporters during the poor run of 9 defeats in 11 games, prior to this affair.
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors, through former Rovers loanee Tom Lawrence. The Welsh international managed to latch onto Craig Bryson’s low cross before firing over the bar from close range.
On the 8th minute, Rovers had their first attempt at goal as Craig Conway delivered a high corner into the box. The cross was met by the strapped head of Darragh Lenihan, who was donning a bandage following his head injury against Stoke City last time out, but unfortunately for him and Rovers, his header fell easily into the hands of the Derby ‘keeper, Kelle Roos.
A minute later, Joe Rothwell and Danny Graham combined well for the latter to have an attempt at goal from close-range. Rothwell slipped Graham through who had peeled off the back of the Derby backline, before turning to face goal from a tight-angle. Although Graham had the positional awareness to skip past Richard Keogh and try to sneak the ball past Roos at the near-post, however, although the move was a good one, Graham’s shot nestled into the side-netting.
Rothwell again showed his quality on the ball on the 13th minute, as he tried to curl one into the top corner from the edge of the area, but saw his effort divert wide of the right-hand upright and behind for a goal-kick.
Craig Conway, on the 16th minute, nearly caught Roos out with a cross, but the Dutch shot-stopper was on hand to parry the ball away from his goal, before the passage of play ended with Danny Graham being flagged for offside.
It took 18 minutes for the highly-rated Mason Mount to get involved in the game as his strike from around 20-yards out flew high and wide of David Raya’s goal.
The game fizzled out into a battle for possession until the 29th minute, when some poor Derby passing saw Rothwell use his speed and attacking brain to intercept Keogh’s poor pass and start a Rovers attack. With Harrison Reed, Bradley Dack and Danny Graham ahead of him, Rothwell opted to lay the ball into Dack, who instead of taking a shot – which looked on – tried to dink the ball into the path of Graham who was lurking at the back-post. Fortunately for Derby, Dack’s effort was cleared behind for a corner which they soon cleared.
The 38th minute brought Derby’s best chance of the first-half as Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson scuffed a guilt-edged chance to put his side ahead with 7 minutes of the half to go. Some sloppy passing by Lewis Travis saw him gift the ball to Tom Lawrence, who skipped past an Elliott Bennett tackle, before slipping through Harry Wilson, who was unmarked at the top of the Rovers box. Although the former Hull City loanee did well to control the ball and avoid the incoming block by Derrick Williams before releasing his shot, the effort he struck veered narrowly wide of the right-hand upright, as Rovers were awarded a goal-kick.
A few minutes later, Craig Conway fashioned a chance of his own as he cut inside from the right and released a powerful low drive with his left-foot towards Roos’ near-post, however the 26-year old ‘keeper was equal to the effort as he got down fast enough to smother the effort.
Amari’i Bell then fashioned a chance on the 43rd minute, as he picked up the ball halfway inside the Derby half and drove towards goal before releasing an effort from just outside the box, that Roos managed to tip wide for a corner. From the resulting corner, the ball dropped for Williams who struck a powerful volley from close-range but saw the effort zip wide of the mark.
The final act of the half, prior to 1 extra minute being added, saw Dack and Graham combine to create a shooting opportunity, which was denied by Richard Keogh who put his body on the line to block Graham’s effort and relieve the pressure off Derby, as the half-time whistle appeared soon after.
With both sides goalless at the break, the respective atmospheres in the dressing rooms would have resulted in mixed reactions from the bosses, with each manager’s perspective on the first-half being different to that of his opponent.
Tony Mowbray would have been pleased with how his changed team conducted themselves during the first-half. With Rovers coming into this game on a dire run of form, the like of which, the team under Mowbray has not seen yet, the gaffer would have been offering encouragement and praise to his players following their commanding first period display and would have been challenging them to replicate it in the second-half, but with an end product.
In the opposite dressing room, Frank Lampard would have been furious with his players due to their lack of consistency and positive thinking in the first-half. The playoff chasers who came into this game with the hope of extending their unbeaten run to 6 games, saw that record come under threat due to the numerous chances they had handed to Rovers and the former Chelsea midfielder would have been drilling his second-half philosophy into his players in order to try and galvanise them into grabbing the goal that would separate the sides.
With Lampard’s words ringing in their ears and the 901 away fans in the top tier of the Darwen End in good voice, it was Derby who restarted the game for the second-half with the hope of using the rest time during the break to their advantage in order to come out of the blocks quickly and grab an early goal that would settle any of the nerves their fans and management team would have had.
Derby were unable to settle those nerves early on in the second period, as on the 49th minute, Rovers continued their fine performance by creating the first chance of the half. Conway saw his deep cross, which was aimed towards Graham, unconvincingly punched away by Roos in the Derby goal.
A few moments later, Elliott Bennett became the first player to enter referee Jeremy Simpson’s book as he hacked down Mason Mount.
Derby drew first blood when it came to the substitutions as on the 52nd minute, Martin Waghorn was withdrawn with Mason Bennett replacing him.
Bennett soon sprung into action as he nearly provided an assist for Tom Lawrence, against his former club. A direct ball forward by Bradley Johnson was chested down by Bennett into the path of Lawrence, who hit a first-time volley towards goal that Raya had to parry behind for a corner, which was soon cleared.
Rovers soon had a corner of their own, which, unlike Derby’s, resulted in a scoring opportunity. Craig Conway again stood over the set-piece on the hour mark, as he delivered the cross to the head of Danny Graham who towered highest within the Derby box to connect with the ball. Unfortunately for the forward however, his nod towards goal, despite being on target, was well-blocked and cleared off the line, as Derby collectively blew a sigh of relief.
The 65th minute soon came, as did Derby’s second change of the evening as Craig Bryson was replaced by Duane Holmes in the centre of the park.
Harrison Reed showed off his pace and close control on the 67th minute as he intercepted a Derby pass and sped away down the right-hand side, before cutting inside into the box and lofting in an inviting cross towards the back-post where Joe Rothwell was waiting. Although the move was superb, with Reed displaying his creative brain, Rothwell was unable to finish it off with a goal as the close-range strike was blocked on the line by the well-placed Jayden Bogle, before clearing.
A minute later, Rovers had another corner which saw the ball cleared and rooted back to Craig Conway, who delivered a cross from the left-hand side into Darragh Lenihan who stood unmarked inside the six-yard box before seeing his header skim wide, off his head.
With 72 minutes gone, Dack and Rothwell again combined for the latter to have a strike, which ballooned over the bar.
2 minutes later, Frank Lampard – despite probably wishing he could bring himself on – made his final change of the evening in the hope of pushing the tie in his team’s direction. Chelsea loanee Mason Mount was withdrawn, whilst former Burnley and Preston North End forward David Nugent replaced him, as Derby looked to alter their tactical approach to a more ‘route one’ style of play.
That change saw the balance of the game changed, but not in the direction the Derby manager would have hoped, as Joe Rothwell capped off his sublime performance with his first goal for the club, on the 76th minute. A long ball forward by Derrick Williams, was flicked on by Danny Graham into Rothwell’s feet, who was able to get the ball under his control and run towards the Derby goal using his pace to get beyond Bradley Johnson, before seeing his delightfully chipped effort fly over the onrushing Roos, and go in off the post, to give Rovers a well-deserved 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately for the goalscorer, his nigh-on perfect night ended prematurely as he was withdrawn due to injury and replaced by Adam Armstrong, 3 minutes after breaking the deadlock, as Tony Mowbray made his first change of the evening.
As Rovers tried to wind down the clock, whilst also defending Derby attacks, Lewis Travis became the second player of the evening to be booked as he brought down Harry Wilson inside the Rovers half.
On the 88th minute, Adam Armstrong had a chance to put the game to bed, but his well-struck lacked the direction as it flew over the bar.
The second Rovers change came on the 89th minute as Danny Graham departed, with Joe Nuttall replacing him.
As the end drew nigh, referee Jeremy Simpson decided to allocate an extra 5 minutes of added time onto the end of the game, which caused the anxiety levels within the home stands to rise, due to the slender lead.
Whilst the anxiety in the crowd increased, any potential anxiety that may had manifested on the pitch, wasn’t evident as Rovers nearly made it 2-0 through Lewis Travis. Rovers brought the ball out from their box through Travis, as he started a counter-attack by playing a pass and go with Nuttall, before continuing his surge forwards. Once Rovers had established themselves inside the final third, Travis slipped in Armstrong, who saw his shot blocked by the veteran Ashley Cole. The blocked effort rebounded back out to Travis who took advantage of the vacated space ahead of him, before hitting a low right-footed effort towards the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, which was immediately blocked on the line and cleared by Bogle.
The points were soon wrapped up in the 92nd minute as Bradley Dack capped off a mixed week personally, with the goal that he’s paid to get. Lewis Travis received the ball from Joe Nuttall’s knockdown, before finding Adam Armstrong who drove at goal. The former Newcastle forward soon slipped the ball into Nuttall who swivelled in the box before seeing his shot deflect off Bogle and blocked by Cole on the line. That block saw the ball fall to Dack who was trailing the former Chelsea full-back. Dack wasted no time in taking a touch round Roos, before stopping the ball in-front of the left-hand post and poking it home from virtually 2-yards out to double Rovers’ lead to 2-0 and consign Derby County to their first defeat in 5 games.
As the Rovers fans serenaded their players, Tony Mowbray made his final change on the 94th minute by withdrawing Harrison Reed – who left the field to a standing ovation – and replaced him with Corry Evans for the closing moments.
Before Evans could even settle into the tie, referee Jeremy Simpson called time on what had been an exhilarating performance by Rovers, which deserved more goals than it got.
Such a performance deserves all of the eulogising that it shall receive, and with the ‘breath of fresh air’ in midfield, with Harrison Reed and Lewis Travis displaying their mobility, pace and stamina, Rovers entered the game with confidence on the ball and were able to execute their forward thinking gameplan, down to a tee. Whilst the reverse fixture at Pride Park, earlier on in the campaign saw Rovers operate with a ‘backs to the wall’ performance, relying mainly on counter-attacks and long-balls towards then-substitute Danny Graham who acted as a ‘platform for attacks’ for Rovers, this performance saw the roles reversed with Derby looking as if they had lost 9 of their past 11 games.
Of course, despite Derby having a poor record against Rovers in recent times, with Rovers coming out undefeated in 5 of the previous 6 meetings, including this tie, there would have always been a possibility that Frank Lampard’s in-form side, who clung onto a 3-3 draw at Griffin Park against Brentford in their last outing, could have simple steamrolled Rovers, due to the dire form of the Blues, yet Rovers and Mowbray showed what they were capable of and why Ewood Park had been such a fortress since the managers’ arrival over 25 months ago.
Looking at the league table in it’s closing stages, as noted previously, Rovers have all but secured their place in next season’s iteration of the division with this win, as it takes them to 50 points with a -8-goal difference from 41 games. Whilst the points total would have exceeded the expectations of many pundits both during pre-season and during the poor run of form, one must remember that Rovers are only a single point off the total that saw them relegated in 2016-17, an incredible feat which will – thankfully – not reoccur this time around.
As the season rolls into its final stretch with 5 games left, Rovers’ next game sees them face Derby County’s bitter rivals on Saturday 13th April at 3pm, in Nottingham Forest, away at the City Ground. Following on from that affair, they travel to London to face Queens Park Rangers on Good Friday – 19th April – at 3pm. Once their trips on the road are complete, Rovers return to Ewood Park on Easter Monday, where they host Lancashire rivals Bolton Wanderers on 22nd April at 3pm, in an affair which, if results fall as Rovers fans would like, could see the suffering Wanderers relegated to League 1 with a defeat at the hands of Rovers.
