Rovers’ shocking and questionable run of form continued as they, chalked up five straight league defeats after they were easily put to the sword by the pace, power and technique of a Watford side, who looked full value for a place in the 2021-22 Premier League.
With Rovers trying to fight back from four consecutive defeats, Tony Mowbray made four alterations to Saturday’s side which fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest. In came Barry Douglas, Corry Evans, Joe Rothwell and Bradley Dack as Amari’i Bell, Jacob Davenport, Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher all dropped out, with only Bell and Brereton fit enough for the bench. It was a special occasion for youth players Dan Pike and Connor McBride as they made the first-team squad for the second and first time in their Rovers careers, respectively. Adam Armstrong was also celebrating two milestones this evening, with the first being the fact he was captain on home soil for the first time in his Rovers career, whilst the second was his 150th appearance in the Blue and White halves of Rovers.
As 7:45pm approached, it was Watford who secured the kick-off, with the Hornets looking to continue their fine form which had seen them go unbeaten in four with three on the bounce and a draw, before tonight’s encounter at Ewood Park.
After some early spells of possession for both sides, it was Rovers who managed to chalk up the game’s first shot in the third minute. After some build-up play by Rovers, Adam Armstrong managed to keep possession of the ball with his back to goal before laying the ball off for Joe Rothwell to try his luck from around 20-yards out, but the shot went straight down the throat of Watford’s deputy goalkeeper, Daniel Bachmann.
Despite some forays forward by Watford that didn’t really end in a clear-cut opportunity at goal, Rovers were having the better of the shots inside the opening 15 minutes. Corry Evans fed Ryan Nyambe down the right, before the full-back beat his man and pulled the ball back for Armstrong. The makeshift Rovers skipper wasted no time in taking a touch, as he tried a left-footed effort from just inside the area, however the attempt was well blocked by Will Hughes.
The 18th minute saw Watford earn a free-kick from a promising position after Jarrad Branthwaite hauled a Hornet down, however the subsequent effort at goal by Tom Cleverley lacked the dip to trouble Thomas Kaminski.
The 23rd minute brought Watford’s first attempt on target after Ismaïla Sarr broke through the Rovers backline and found himself free on the edge of the box. Will Hughes had the vision to pick out Sarr who was lurking in space around the edge of the area, but the Sengalese’s touch and shot was well saved by Kaminski.
That effort only proved to be a warning for Rovers as two minutes later, Watford managed to chip themselves ahead courtesy of Brazilian starlet, João Pedro. A speculative ball forward by Watford turned into a loose ball which saw both centre-backs and Kaminski in No Man’s Land. As Branthwaite stopped to appeal for an offside which was never coming, he left Kaminski with the split-second decision on whether to come or stay. The Belgian did the former at his peril as the speed of Pedro saw the Hornet forward get to the ball first before eloquently chipping the Rovers keeper as the Hornets took the 1-0 lead.
From the restart, Rovers broke quickly in-search of an instant equaliser. The ball found its way to Armstrong who tried a speculative left-footed effort from the edge of the area, but whilst ‘keeper Bachmann looked a bit nervous, it narrowly evaded the top right-hand corner and sailed behind for a goal-kick.
Soon after Armstrong’s effort, Sarr again found himself in-behind Rovers’ defence, but a good save by the legs of Kaminski, saw Watford win a corner, from the Ken Sema set-piece, one of the visitor’s January signings, Dan Gosling – who was making his first start for the club – nearly doubled his side’s lead after hitting a volley from a corner. After the corner was cleared by Rovers, the ball only fell as far as the former Bournemouth man, but the ex-England under-21 international couldn’t keep his volley down.
The 34th minute saw the first booking of the game produced, as James Linington showed yellow to Joe Rothwell, after he clattered João Pedro, who was bursting away on the counter.
Ahead of his 23rd birthday tomorrow, Ismaïla Sarr gifted himself the perfect birthday present by grabbing the goal he had been threatening since minute 23. After Pedro tried his luck with a shot from inside the area, Sarr reacted the quickest of those in the box to tap his eight goal of the season home from a couple of yards out, after Kaminski was left rooted to the area, following a smart original save from the Brazilian’s effort, as the Hornets went out of sight at 2-0 on the 39th minute.
Rovers weren’t going to be brushed aside as easily as some might have thought as Harvey Elliott managed to drag the hosts back into the tie, by the scruff of their neck. After Rothwell won the ball back on the edge of the visitor’s box, he tried to thread Dack through, but the ball deflected into the path of the Liverpool loanee. The youngster displayed some wonderful close control at speed to keep the ball under his spell before firing into the roof of the net in order to half the deficit to 2-1, in the 43rd minute.
After two minutes of added time was called for and played by referee James Linington, the whistle for half-time was soon blown.
Tony Mowbray would have been frustrated with how his side had switched off for the first Watford goal, however that frustration would have been eased by the Elliott goal that just about gave Rovers hope heading into the second-half. The gaffer would have been quick to offer his thoughts to his side whilst mapping out a gameplan that could halt Watford’s creative midfield who were pulling the strings throughout the first period.
Hornets boss, Xisco Muñoz, however, would have been pleased with his side’s attacking play but annoyed that they’d been undone by some brilliance, that came via a deflected through ball off his defender, Francisco Sierralta. Despite that blemish, Watford’s record in terms of possession and quality of chances, could not be faulted as they showed why they were battling it out for the automatic promotion spots at the top of the league, albeit against a team oddly out of form.
After both sides returned for the second period, it was Rovers who got the second 45 minutes underway as they looked to try and end a horrendous run of form and avoid losing three consecutive league meetings to the Hornets for the first-time ever. Additionally, if Rovers managed to halt defeat, they would avoid five successive Championship defeats for the first time since April 2012.
Ken Sema set himself up for an attempt at the back-post, but the Swede’s effort was well denied by the on-rushing Kaminski.
The 53rd minute saw Armstrong have a couple of chances. The first saw him lose out in a footrace against ‘keeper Bachmann, before his second attempt saw William Troost-Ekong block his left-footed strike.
Rovers’ first change of the evening came in the 56th minute as Stewart Downing replaced Lewis Travis.
The hour mark saw Watford’s two-goal cushion restored as Ken Sema put some daylight between the two sides. After breaking away from Rovers, Sema used his pace and trickery to get beyond Ryan Nyambe before doing the same to Taylor Harwood-Bellis before shifting the ball onto his left and driving it beyond Kaminski, into the bottom right-corner to make it 3-1.
Directly after the goal, Watford made their first change of the evening as Philip Zinckernagel replaced Dan Gosling.
From the kick-off, Pedro tried to beat Kaminski from a long way out, in the 63rd minute, but the effort lacked the dip as the ‘keeper had it covered.
A misplaced Cleverley pass after the change, allowed Armstrong to race through on goal, but a Bachmann save denied the goal, despite conceding a corner in the process, which Rovers couldn’t capitalise on.
An in-swinging 67th minute Watford corner saw Kaminski challenged for the ball alongside Sierralta. After the ball dropped loose, the ball had to be cleared off the line by a Rovers man, before the preceding Watford attempt notched four for the visitors.
The 69th minute saw Rovers’ second and third changes of the evening occur as Ben Brereton and Tyrhys Dolan replaced Joe Rothwell and Bradley Dack.
Following a Rovers corner, the ball was cleared out as far as Barry Douglas, but the Scot’s lethal effort deflected behind off his own man, as Rovers couldn’t reduce the deficit on the 70th minute.
The 77th minute saw a double substitution for the Golden Boys. Ben Wilmot and Andre Gray were introduced for goalscorers, Ken Sema and João Pedro.
Rovers managed to find a route back into the game with eight minutes, plus added time remaining. A Stewart Downing corner saw Ben Brereton bundle the ball home at the back-post to grab his fourth of the season and his second in as many games against Watford as Rovers knew it was time to ramp up the pressure, given the score was cut short to 3-2.
The 89th minute nearly saw Jarrad Branthwaite atone for his mistake for the first Watford goal as he came within inches of drawing Rovers level. A free-kick deep into Watford’s half was chipped towards the back-post where the Everton loanee was lurking, however his poke goalwards was stopped by a combination of Watford’s defence and their ‘keeper Daniel Bachmann as they held onto their lead for their lives.
With Rovers looking for an equaliser, James Linington added on four extra minutes of time onto the end of the game, giving Rovers the potential time needed to find a dramatic leveller.
Despite Rovers’ best efforts before the added time, the extra four minutes proved unnecessary as Watford put on a good showing in order to run down the clock, prior to the final whistle being blown, which consigned Rovers to their fifth consecutive Championship defeat and Watford to their first league double over the Blues since the 1981-82 season.
This game was quite a weird one when looking at from the outside. Seeing 3-2, you’d think, ‘oh, Rovers played quite well given their run of form and were probably unlucky not to sneak a draw’, however that was far from the case. Watford were a class above the Blues tonight. They looked like they had better quality, more energy, more knowhow in how to see the game out, which is probably what you’d expect from a side just relegated and vying for an instant return, but it doesn’t allow one to look beyond Rovers’ frailties. Once again, individual errors cost Rovers and whilst the side notched two – one from a piece of individual brilliance and one from a set-piece – Rovers never really looked potent enough up until the final 10-15 minutes, which is becoming a real worry, not to mention Armstrong’s lack of presence within the box.
After going into freefall and hitting the ‘self-destruct’ button, Rovers now find themselves languishing in 15th place, still stuck on 39 points – (worryingly 10 points off the relegation places) – despite their positive +8 goal-difference.
Rovers’ next game sees them host Tony Mowbray’s former side, in Coventry City who come to Ewood Park on Saturday 27th February at 3pm. After that Rovers travel to the Madejski Stadium for a clash with Reading on Tuesday 2nd March in a game that will be broadcasted live on Sky Sports at 8pm. Following that trip, the Blues remain down south to butt heads with Millwall, four days later, on Saturday 6th March at 3pm.
