The 100th league meeting between Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End saw Rovers lose their first home game in five, as the sides played out a hard-fought Friday night contest, which was broadcasted live on Sky Sports.
Rovers were looking to bounce back from their 1-0 away defeat at Queens Park Rangers, which came six days ago, and boss Tony Mowbray made two changes to the team to try and turn his side’s fortunes back around as quickly as possible. Barry Douglas returned to the side following the birth of his daughter, as the Scot replaced Amari’i Bell, whilst Bradley Dack came in for his first league start of the season, as he replaced Harvey Elliott.
After the pre-match rituals were undertaken and referee David Webb was given the thumbs-up from the television to go ahead with kick-off, it was the visitors Preston North End who won the coin toss and took the kick-off as the 100th league Lancashire Derby between the sides commenced.
A quiet opening 18 minutes saw Rovers edge the game, but a quick turnover in possession saw Preston hit the Blues on the transition in the 19th minute as last season’s loanee Greg Cunningham scored the game’s first goal. A punt forward by loanee ‘keeper Daniel Iversen saw the whole Rovers defence gravitate towards the right-hand side of the field, as Darragh Lenihan headed the ball straight to Alan Browne. Browne used his vision and technique to pick out the overlapping Cunningham, who had the freedom of Ewood Park down the left-hand side, with a wonderful crossfield ball. The former loanee did well to bring the ball down with a sublime first-touch before following it up with a clean strike that arrowed straight into the bottom right-hand corner of Thomas Kaminski’s goal as North End took the vital 1-0 lead.
The 36th minute brought Rovers’ best chance of the game as Bradley Dack and Adam Armstrong combined. Dack pulled off a nutmeg before a lay-off from Joe Rothwell allowed Dack to thread Armstrong through. The pacey hitman did enough to stay onside before dashing towards goal and releasing a snapshot off his left-foot that just narrowly curved wide of the mark.
A poor evening got worse for Rovers as Preston managed to double their lead in the 43rd minute after Liam Lindsay managed to power his way through Rovers’ defence in order to turn the ball home with a scruffy header. Ryan Ledson’s in-swinging corner from the left-hand side saw a combination of Sam Gallagher and the Stoke loanee connect with the ball as it trickled over the line with Thomas Kaminski stranded in the centre of his goal. Although the ball looked to have gone in off Gallagher last, the 6’4” centre-half, who was linked with Rovers in previous windows, managed to hold off Jarrad Branthwaite and rise highest at the near-post in order to flick it goalward as North End extended their lead to 2-0.
Their two-goal advantage only lasted two minutes, however, as Rovers came out of the traps from the restart with Sam Gallagher making amends by winnings a controversially soft penalty that gave Rovers a lifeline ahead of the break. After three minutes of added time was called for, Ryan Nyambe managed to thread Gallagher through in-behind Andrew Hughes, which saw him and his marker have a tangle of legs which saw Rovers ask questions of the official, David Webb. Although the referee was sceptical, his mind was made up after a conversation with his assistant, as Rovers were offered the opportunity to reduce the deficit prior to the break. The onus to pot the ball came onto the shoulders of Adam Armstrong who managed to fulfil the demands expected of him as he made it 2-1 by slotting the penalty home, into the right-hand side of the goal, to grab his 19th goal of the season, in all competitions.
The deficit was nearly completely eradicated as Rovers tried to end the period level by grabbing a late equaliser. Jacob Davenport picked up a loose ball inside the Preston half and managed to pick out the overlapping Barry Douglas, who was free down the left. The Scot took a touch to stop the ball deal before delivering an inviting early low cross towards the front-post which Adam Armstrong steered towards goal using the outside of his boot, however Leicester City loanee Iversen made amends for failing to keep the penalty out, with a world-class one-handed save down to his near-post which denied the forward his brace, as Preston were forced to concede a corner instead which Rovers couldn’t make count.
That failed set-piece proved to be the half’s final act, as David Webb soon brought the lively half to an end, with the visitors ahead.
Tony Mowbray would have been incredibly frustrated with the manner of the two goals that his side had conceded throughout the first period. The first goal saw his right-hand side fall asleep, whilst the second goal saw Rovers completely manhandled in the physical department, which are two areas that the boss would have been moaning about during the break. The boss would have had to re-motivate his side after a damaging first-half in the hope that they could salvage something during the second-half.
Alex Neil would have been pleased with 95% of what his team had shown him throughout the first 45 minutes, with the penalty the only ‘black mark’ on Preston’s first period record. The Scot would have been encouraging his side to continue their positive display and try and put Rovers to the sword like they have done in previous meetings.
The second-half brought two changes within the Rovers camp as Stewart Downing and Tyrhys Dolan came on to replace Joe Rothwell and Jacob Davenport.
Rovers had an opportunity in the 56th minute to draw level after a corner fell to Downing and he linked up with his fellow substitute, however Dolan was unable to produce a shot or a cross, as the ball ricocheted off his knee and went behind for a goal-kick.
A minute later, Preston were nearly gifted a goal after a mix-up between Darragh Lenihan and Ryan Nyambe saw Tom Barkhuizen steal the ball between the pair as he bore down on goal, however the former Blackpool player’s effort dragged wide of the mark.
Rather strangely, the game’s first booking came in the 61st minute, after Ryan Ledson clattered into Tyrhys Dolan.
Rovers’ third change of the night saw Harvey Elliott introduced in-place of Harvey Elliott, in the 62nd minute.
A succession of corners saw Downing’s deep cross find an unmarked Bradley Dack who was lurking at the back-post, but the talisman couldn’t keep his nod down.
A minute later, Armstrong latched onto the end of Douglas’ cross, however the Geordie couldn’t keep his own header down.
A fourth Rovers change saw makeshift right-back Sam Gallagher removed and replaced by Manchester City loanee, Taylor Harwood-Bellis who was coming on for his second Rovers appearance.
Preston soon followed up with a double change on the 75th minute as Emil Riis Jakobsen replaced Daniel Johnson whilst Brad Potts came on in-place of Tom Barkhuizen.
The substitute Riis Jakobsen managed to break through Rovers’ backline and came within inches of increasing Preston’s lead, but for Thomas Kaminski’s right glove which denied the visitors further bragging rights.
Rovers thought they had drawn level in the 79th minute through Bradley Dack’s prod into the bottom left-hand corner, however the goal was rightly ruled out for offside, with the replay showing that the playmaker had drifted ahead of his man prior to the flicked assist.
Liam Lindsay went into the book on the 83rd minute after he clattered Dack from behind, just inside the Rovers half.
Rovers’ fifth final change of the game saw Ben Brereton come on in the 86th minute, as he replaced Lewis Travis.
Preston thought they’d deflected in a third goal via the boot of Ched Evans, however what surely would have been the killer goal was ruled out for offside by the on-loan Fleetwood Town man.
After five minutes of added time was called for, Preston made another change as they withdrew Ched Evans and replaced him with Jayson Molumby.
Apart from the hilarious moment of Thomas Kaminski taking a throw-in, the final five minutes of the game offered nothing in the way of hope for Rovers as they once again stumbled to a defeat, despite most of the game’s stats and figures falling in their favour.
It’s not been the ‘fantastic February’ we were expecting after the solid January we had, has it? With all the toxicity that’s emerged on social media, it’s important to look at the game simply, as an isolated game, rather than looking too far into the future, or at the playoffs. Man for man, Rovers didn’t look up to the fight of a local derby, even without the fans. Preston came to Ewood and stuck to their game-plan which was heavily reliant on the counter-attack, whereas Rovers – once again – saw their possession come to nothing, with Bradley Dack for the most part, being a passenger in the team. Although Alex Neil’s side came into the tie with a turnover of 16 players – eight in, eight out – after the January transfer window, it looked as if Rovers were the side with new players. Whilst it would be contradictory to talk about the pitch, as enough as been said about it, it leaves one wondering whether a Plan B should have been executed, given the situation.
After falling to their second successive defeat, Rovers remain in 8th place, with 39 points and a +11 goal difference from the 28 games played. Sadly, Preston are now level on points with Rovers and the gap to the playoffs could increase to nine, if Bournemouth win tomorrow.
Looking towards next week, Rovers now embark on back-to-back away games. The first of which sees them travel to Yorkshire, to face Barnsley on Wednesday 17th February at 7:45pm, whilst the second has them pencilled in for a trip to the City Ground, where Nottingham Forest will play hosts on Saturday 20th February at 3pm. Following that double bill of away games, Rovers return home to host Watford on Wednesday 24th February at 7:45pm.
