A satisfied Tony Mowbray saw his side come away from the KCOM Stadium with a narrow 1-0 victory that earnt Rovers their first away win of the season. After extending his personal record as a manager against the Tigers to 8 wins – the most he has over a single club – the 55-year old expressed his thoughts on the game to the club’s media team.
“The game started brightly and there were a lot of chances at both ends. They obviously had a penalty that Christian (Walton) saved, then they hit the woodwork a couple of times. We also hit the woodwork three times during the first-half, so it could have been 3-2 at half-time! We played well in spells tonight, but we have to improve. I thought we created enough chances to win the game comfortably and we weren’t under any sustained pressure bar the odd shot or flash across goal, which was always going to be expected because they have some good players in (Kamil) Grosicki and (Jarrod) Bowen. Overall, I’m happy with the points, we came here and won 1-0 last season and we’ve done it again this season. We need to keep pushing on and now have to look forward to hosting Cardiff City on Saturday where we know we’ll have to be at our best to get the better in such a demanding, physical game.
“We need to improve by killing games like this off. If you grab that second goal and go 2-0 up, you can afford to be a bit more patient with the ball and you don’t have to rush things. At times, because we’ve got a lot of pace and power up-front in (Adam) Armstrong and (Sam) Gallagher, we tried to hit them too early at times which leads to us giving the ball away. Sometimes our best moments of play come from utilising the extra pass available to us which then allows us to hit a shorter pass in behind a defence for either Adam or Sam to burst onto, but it’s something we’re going to work on and try and improve.
“The penalty save was a big moment in the game, despite it being early on in the game. It was huge for confidence and adrenaline as it gives the rest of the team the belief that they can actually go on and win the game. Saying that, Hull will be frustrated because alongside the penalty they had a few chances that flashed across our box. I must say though, we defended our six-yard box brilliantly tonight to be honest and Christian claimed a few crosses that could have potentially caused us problems. I thought the centre-halves were good tonight and the full-backs had a really tough challenge tonight coming up against Grosicki and Bowen and yet they stuck to their jobs really well, but all that matters is that we’ve got the job done, so we have to move on and turn our attentions to the next game.
“I think the penalty save and the clean sheet will be huge for Christian’s confidence. We’re quite hard on our ‘keepers as a coaching unit, we want them to dominate the 18-yard box, we want them to come out and claim crosses, we want them to distribute the ball really quickly and sometimes it can be a bit of a culture change at a new club to have the manager screaming at you, telling you that you need to do it all quicker. He wants to improve as a ‘keeper in order to play in the Premier League with his parent club, Brighton and Hove Albion and I think he has the ammunition and attributes to do just that. Our job is to help him along that route so he can hopefully fulfil his career ambitions.
“It doesn’t matter how the goals go in, whether from open play or from a set-piece, just as long as they do! I’m delighted for the lads and for Derrick (Williams) who got the goal. I think when we’ve got (Sam) Gallagher, (Danny) Graham, (Darragh) Lenihan, (Derrick) Williams and (Bradley) Johnson all on the field, we’re a big physical presence and can cause problems for opponents in both boxes. I’m delighted for the supporters as well who made the long trip across the Pennines, but we now have to prepare ourselves for the weekend.
“Although Derrick got the goal, he should be praised for his defensive contribution today. He showed his calibre towards the end of last season, when he was alongside Darragh in the centre of defence. I think it was a sign for me that Derrick can play at centre-half on a regular basis. Obviously, Tosin (Adarabioyo) will be fit soon, who I thought was fantastic away at Fulham in spells, so we now have some decisions to make regarding how we want to set up the team going forward. Ultimately, I’m delighted for the team and the supporters, tonight.
“It’s very early in the season, we just need to keep going. If we still hadn’t have won at this point and all the questions were being asked, I would have still been assessing whether we were moving in the right direction, which I do believe that we are. We’re trying to get the balance between the directness of Danny Graham and Bradley Dack, versus the ability to play balls through defences into the path of an Adam Armstrong or by hitting a diagonal ball from Stewart Downing into a Sam Gallagher who can overpower his full-back. It’s about finding out different ways to play that will benefit us as we move forward.
“These types of games are ‘must wins’ if you want to do well over the course of the season. The ‘gritty’ 1-0s where someone like Derrick scores instead of a Danny or a Dacky can potentially define seasons. I’ve said to the players in the dressing room that they shouldn’t get carried away after tonight. We’ve scored one against Charlton, one against Middlesbrough, one tonight and none against Fulham, which isn’t enough if you want to be a team that’s going to terrorise the league. If you’re scoring three, four or five every other week, people know that they’re in for a tough afternoon, and although we could have potentially gotten three or four tonight with the amount of chances we had, we ultimately didn’t, which is part of the issue. We need to become more ruthless and finish off the brilliant moves we create, such as the Downing chance in the first-half that hit the post. We had a few moments that, with a better pass or better positional awareness, we could have scored. Armstrong got behind them a few times and didn’t manage to get a goal, which again displays the issue. Whether it’s the run or the pass, I’m not sure, but it’s something we’ll be looking at and focussing on during training.
“We’ve got a chance to turn a good week into an excellent week, on Saturday at home to Cardiff City. We all have to strive to achieve victory, because we know what type of team Neil Warnock is going to bring to Ewood. They’ll be direct, physical and focussed on set-plays and long throws, yet saying that, they’ve got some good technical players with a lot of speed and power, as well; Junior Hoilett, who our fans will know well, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Joe Ralls amongst others. It’s a big test for us, but one we should look forward to heading into the weekend.”
