After watching his side salvage, a draw from the jaws of defeat, courtesy of a 95th minute Bradley Johnson strike, despite praising his players’ work ethic and determination, Tony Mowbray was left dissatisfied with Saturday’s 2-2 draw with fellow playoff-hopefuls, Swansea City.
“The goal in the final few minutes shows the character this side possesses. Saying that, I’m left frustrated knowing that we didn’t beat Swansea City after being in such a good position. It was a game we had to target a victory in, which I thought was shown by the team we started with, which was more attacking than Wednesday night’s side against Stoke City. We were way too sloppy at the start of the second-half. We’ve kicked the ball straight out of play from the kick-off, which led to us giving away a free-kick on the edge of the area that eventually led to their penalty, all inside the first few minutes. It was an embarrassing start to the second-half and yet we worked our way back into the game after a huge effort from everybody. It would have been nice if Bradley’s (Johnson) goal was the winning one, right at the death, after we got a penalty, yet Danny (Graham) was denied by a good save from their ‘keeper (Freddie Woodman), but that’s football.
“Looking at the results of the teams around us, we’ve moved one point closer towards the playoffs and yet, we’re left frustrated after back-to-back home draws. We seemingly get good opportunities to edge closer to or even into the playoffs and then we fail to grasp them, which is frustrating. We need to keep focussed because we still have 10 massive games left in our season. We play a lot of the teams down near the bottom of the league, all away from home, so we have to make sure we’re right at it for those games and, although every team down the bottom are somehow pulling up trees with their results, such as Wigan Athletic today, who beat West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns, hopefully we can go and make our quality count. We need to see where we end up, but I’m left frustrated with some under-par performances today, and yet we found a way not to lose the game, even though I feel we should have won it.
“I think, at the start of the season, you’d have offered me three points outside the top six, with 10 games left, I probably would have taken it. I think, although we can all say ‘what if we’d scored here, or drawn here, or scored today’s penalty’, that doesn’t just apply to us because everyone up and down the league has those ‘sad stories’. We just need to keep our focus, our mentality and keep applying pressure on the teams above and around us. In terms of games, we’ve got six away and four at home, which might not be a bad thing for us. Although we should look forward to the home games against West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United, we’ve got the bottom three away from home, which are games we need to not slip up in. We need to take each game as it comes and not get ahead of ourselves.
“I’m not stood here celebrating the equaliser wildly, because I’m frustrated that we didn’t win. One point doesn’t do much for me personally, in this division, as I’ve mentioned previously. In my mind, three points mean more than three points because they’re so valuable and hard to get and yet when I look at the results around the country, there were a few draws in there, and Preston North End lost at Fulham, so we’ve ended up gaining ground on them. It’s just frustrating that we can’t get what we deserve and desire from the matches. As I’ve said, there were a few of our players who I thought were below-par today and that can hurt you. Had everybody been at the top of their game, we could have won, but ultimately that wasn’t the case and we’ve dropped two points as a result.
“The goal at the end was amazing for the people who stayed the full 97 minutes. I’ve always thought that it’s amazing how this great stadium, sees people congregate near the exits as the game ticks away and yet it must have been great for those who stayed that extra minute or two, in order to see us score like that. I’m pleased for Bradley (Johnson) because it was harsh on me to drop him to the bench for today, and yet I felt that with (Stewart) Downing and (Lewis) Travis, our midfield would have had a better balance, allowing us to attack more rather than be defensive. Saying that, despite standing here having lost two goals, I don’t think the shape of the team directly led to that, it was more down to a lack of concentration and some poor decisions. We need to keep going and not dwell on it too much. As I said in the week, we’ve had a similar situation to when we beat Bristol City away and then had back-to-back draws against Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic here, and although I thought we should have won today, we’ve ultimately done the same again and not capitalised on our home games. We’ve got Derby County next, at Pride Park, next Sunday due to their FA Cup game midweek. They won away today at Sheffield Wednesday and have hit a decent run of form with (Wayne) Rooney making a big impact, but we should look forward to it and go there with confidence.
“Ben (Brereton) was amazing with his feet when he came on, and I think I can have a dig at him for his shot at the end there because of it. His dribbling, technique and balance were all amazing in the time he was on the field and he showed glimpses of the talent we know he possesses. I’ve told him that he has to be braver and compete better for the team and yet, sometimes these really talented footballers don’t have that in their locker, but I’m almost trying to bully him into it. He needs to understand that he’s playing in a working-class area where people work hard to earn their money, and people expect their team to do the same, and to tackle and fight for every ball. When Ben does that and allies it to his talent, he’ll be some player for this club. He’s got wonderful talent and that’s why he’s at this club, yet he’s still a very young boy. I’ve tried to build this team on intensity, pressure and front-foot play and ultimately, Ben hasn’t yet managed to cement himself into the team due to the likes of Danny (Graham), Bradley (Dack), Adam (Armstrong). Brereton is a good footballer and his name will be one that will be cemented on our team-sheet I’m sure, as time moves on, because of the talent he possesses, but hopefully he can hone his skills enough so that he’s bending them into the top corner and not out for a throw-in, like he did today(!)
“It was also great for Sam (Gallagher) to score his first goal here at Ewood, after the week he’s had because he’s worked hard for the team and not got his rewards thus far. I’ve talked to him about becoming more selfish and getting into the box to sniff out chances, like he did today. He works like a trojan up and down the line, tracking back and putting a defensive shift in. He can torture full-backs and use his height and power to flick-on balls after scrapping with centre-halves. His physical data after games, along with (Ryan) Nyambe are miles ahead of everyone else, usually, yet Sam has to add goals and creation to his game on a regular basis, but it was great to see the team’s reaction after he scored today.”
