Blackburn Rovers fell to their fourth successive defeat after a tight game at the City Ground saw Nottingham Forest do the league double over Rovers for the first time since 2013-14, which came courtesy of a deflected first-half effort.
After Rovers stumbled to their third successive league defeat on Wednesday at the hands of Barnsley, who beat the Blues, 2-1, Tony Mowbray made five changes for today’s clash with Nottingham Forest. Ryan Nyambe, Amari’i Bell, Jacob Davenport, Harvey Elliott and Ben Brereton all returned as Darragh Lenihan, Barry Douglas, Elliott Bennett, Stewart Downing and Bradley Dack all dropped out, with only Lenihan being absent from the squad due to a rib injury. The absence of skipper Lenihan saw Adam Armstrong take the armband as the forward looked to try and help Rovers get back to winning ways, whilst also continuing his fine run of form which has seen him notch 20 goals in all competitions this season.
Following the usual pre-match niceties, it was Nottingham Forest who won the toss and got the game underway as they looked to bounce back from their last-gasp defeat in midweek, which came at the hands of Swansea City.
The game started quickly as after only 120 seconds, Rovers defender, Taylor Harwood-Bellis saw his name taken by referee Keith Stroud, after the Manchester City youth graduate fouled Filip Krovinović on halfway.
Rovers had the first chance of the game on the fourth minute as a free-kick was whipped in from the left-hand side by Harvey Elliott, with Ben Brereton the target. The former Forest man did well to make space in the box and connect with the ball, but his glancing header towards goal proved catching practice for Forest shot-stopper, Brice Samba.
Brereton seemed in fine mood against his former club and determined to net against them for the first time in his career, as he again tried his luck on the 11th minute with a curling attempt after cutting inside from the left, but again, Samba was there to deny the young hitman.
Three minutes after Brereton’s attempt, Forest thought they’d scored but for Ryan Nyambe being in the right place at the right time. Anthony Knockaert and Glenn Murray combined with a give and go, before the Frenchman tiptoed his way past a couple of Rovers tackles and tried his luck at goal. Despite getting the better of several Rovers defenders and Thomas Kaminski, Nyambe showed his instinctive quality by placing himself perfectly on the line to deny Forest the opener.
The deadlock was soon broken on the 25th minute when Alex Mighten hit a strike from the edge of the Rovers area. After a deep free-kick bounced loose on the edge of the area, the American managed to bring the ball down before trying his luck. The shot was diverted towards goal via a deflection from a Rovers man which saw Kaminski rooted to the spot as the ball zipped past the Belgian and nestled into the opposite side of the net to where he was stood, as Forest went 1-0 up.
Forest nearly doubled their lead, five minutes later, as Knockaert’s cross fell to Murray whose shot dragged narrowly wide of the far-post.
The 32nd minute gave Rovers an opportunity to respond as an Elliott cross saw Brereton and Amari’i Bell get on the end of it. Whilst both jumped the header fell to Bell whose effort fell wide of the mark.
Elliott again was the creator, two minutes later, as he fed Sam Gallagher with a chipped through ball, but the frontman’s volley flew over the bar.
Lewis Travis came agonisingly close to levelling the scoring in the 36th minute after a fine Rovers move. Some possession ended with Armstrong turning and laying the ball off to Travis who tried his luck from the edge of the area. His shot was good and on target, but it took Samba two bites of the cherry to keep hold of the ball and deny any lurking Rovers players a tap-in.
Nottingham Forest earnt their first yellow card of the game on the 41st minute after Murray fouled Davenport.
As the 45th minute grew nearer, referee Keith Stroud added on an extra two minutes of time just prior to the break.
The first minute of added time saw Forest nearly double their lead but for the crossbar. An in-swinging Knockaert free-kick from the right saw Manchester United loanee, James Garner rise highest in the area, but the midfielder’s nod bounced behind via the crossbar.
The second minute of added time nearly saw Rovers grab the late leveller their confidence and morale would have needed, heading into the break. Some fine footwork by Armstrong saw the skipper for the day create an angle on the edge of the area before releasing a dipping shot aimed for the far corner. Whilst the ball beat Samba, it didn’t beat the post as the ball crashed back into play off the upright, leaving Armstrong stunned with his hands on his head.
Those two chances proved to be the last of the half as Keith Stroud soon brought an entertaining first period to an end.
Chris Hughton would have had mixed feelings at the break. Despite heading into half-time with the lead, the former Norwich City manager would have been disappointed with how his side had played, given they had only mustered a couple of real chances, besides the goal that put them ahead.
Tony Mowbray would have been frustrated that his side had failed to make their chances pay, despite peppering the Forest goal with a lot of adequate chances. The boss would have been trying to hatch a plan to try and not only change Rovers’ fortunes, but also increase the morale within the squad which would have certainly been hit after three defeats on the bounce.
Just before Rovers got the game back underway for the second-half, Mowbray executed the first phase of his plan by introducing Bradley Dack into the game, who replaced Sam Gallagher, moments prior to the second period started.
Rovers’ first chance of the second period came in the 55th minute as Brereton teed up Armstrong for a shot from 20-yards out, but Samba was on-hand to save well.
James Garner tried his luck from range on the 57th minute, but the ball, which deflected off Dack, trickled harmlessly into the arms of Kaminski.
The first Forest change of the game came in the 59th minute as Lyle Taylor replaced Glenn Murray.
Ben Brereton’s return to the City Ground was soon cut short on the 64th minute as he was replaced by Tyrhys Dolan in Rovers’ second change.
Elliott combined with Armstrong on the 66th minute, but the forward’s attempt veered wide of the mark.
Garner became the latest player to go into the book after he hauled down Elliott, 30-yards out from goal.
The 69th minute saw a Forest double change as Ryan Yates and Luke Freeman came on for Cafú and the goalscorer, Alex Mighten.
Forest nearly doubled their lead in the 70th minute, but Rovers were given a let-off after they went to sleep. Kaminski pulled off a great save to push Cyrus Christie’s effort onto the post, but the rebound fell to Lyle Taylor who stabbed wide of an empty goal, from yards out.
Rovers were offered a lifeline, two minutes after Taylor let them off the hook, as Ryan Nyambe was brought down by Samba inside the area. Adam Armstrong shouldered the responsibility of the penalty in order to try and grab his 21st goal of the season and draw Rovers level in the game. Despite the striker’s good form, Brice Samba was showing that he was unbeatable this afternoon as he sprung to his right-hand side and palm the forward’s penalty away, before holding onto the subsequent low cross into the box and relieving the pressure off his defenders.
Rovers’ chances of getting a leveller proved slimmer, as an 84th minute free-kick from just outside the box, flew over the bar courtesy of Armstrong.
Rovers used the break in play to make a double change as John Buckley and Joe Rothwell replaced Lewis Travis and Jacob Davenport.
Forest followed that up with a defensive change in the 87th minute as Tyler Blackett replaced Anthony Knockaert.
Rovers’ final change of the game was enforced, as Ryan Nyambe was withdrawn due to injury and replaced by Elliott Bennett for the game’s closing moments.
As the 90th minute ticked over, Keith Stroud added on four extra minutes onto the end of the game, which gave Rovers some hope of notching a dramatic equaliser.
Despite Rovers’ best efforts, they failed to grab the equaliser that would have stopped their loss tally increasing to 13 for the season, as the full-time whistle soon compounded their misery.
This game was arguably a classic example of ‘luck not being on one’s side’. Had Mighten’s goal not taken a deflection, and Armstrong aimed his penalty to the right-hand side, instead of his left, then we could have been talking about a very different result and things would have been rosy. Although the stats suggest that Rovers should have probably come away from the game with something, we all know that the game isn’t played on paper. Whilst today brought good news regarding the training ground revamp, where all areas of the Rovers ranks will soon be combined under ‘one roof’, this game sadly took the edge of what was a very exciting announcement. Tony Mowbray and Rovers now have a lot of thinking to do in the hope that they can turn their fortunes around, before the games run out.
Despite defeat, Rovers remain in 12th with 39 points and a +9-goal-difference from the 30 games they have played.
Next up for Rovers are back-to-back home games. The first sees them host Watford on Wednesday 24th February at 7:45pm. The second sees them welcome Coventry City on 27th February at 3pm, whilst the game after that sees them travel down to Berkshire to face Reading on Tuesday 2nd March at 8pm, in a game which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
