Rovers fell to their nineteenth defeat of the league season after a goal against the run of play saw relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday edge one step towards the dotted line.
After Rovers managed to secure their second win from their last 16 games, which came in a 2-1 home victory against Wayne Rooney’s Derby County, on Friday evening, Tony Mowbray made five changes to Friday’s side for this midweek clash at Hillsborough. Elliott Bennett, Darragh Lenihan, Corry Evans, Tom Trybull and Joe Rothwell all replaced, Ryan Nyambe, Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Travis, Bradley Johnson and Lewis Holtby. Lenihan returned to skipper the side after recovering from a groin injury, whilst Nyambe dropped out with a foot injury.
Following the standard pre-match rituals, it was Sheffield Wednesday who won the coin toss and got the game underway as they looked to continue their fight towards securing survival in the Championship, following their pre-season points deduction.
Rovers managed to earn the game’s first chance as Joe Rothwell and Tom Trybull combined for the German to try his luck from range, but the shot lacked the desired power to fool Wednesday ‘keeper, Keiren Westwood.
As the game developed into a scrappy affair, with neither side capable of consistently holding onto possession, Sam Hutchinson found his name taken by referee Paul Tierney, following a rash challenge on Sam Gallagher.
In the 18th minute, Rovers hit Wednesday via a counter-attack which Joe Rothwell started, as he won the ball back, before laying it off to Harvey Elliott. The Liverpool loanee – who laid a wreath ahead of kick-off in memorial of the 96 Liverpool fans who sadly passed in the Hillsborough disaster – was able to cut inside onto his left-foot before finding Adam Armstrong who was making an overlapping run. The forward opted against shooting as he tried to find Sam Gallagher in the middle before the #9’s effort was dragged wide.
Wednesday finally managed to muster a noteworthy attempt, in the 24th minute, as a ball aimed towards the back-post saw Josh Windass connect to it via a volley, but the former Wigan Athletic forward was unable to keep his shot low and on target, as it ballooned into the stand.
The 29th minute saw a pause as Harvey Elliott received treatment following a cut to the head. The 18-year old then departed the pitch momentarily, before returning to the field, via the signal from the referee, with a bandage covering the wound.
Two attempts at goal within a minute occurred in minute 37 with only one finding the back of the net as the deadlock was broken. The first attempt saw Barry Douglas find Joe Rothwell with a ball that forced the midfielder to stoop in order to head it. Despite the good build-up play, Rothwell forced a fine save from Westwood which allowed Wednesday to hit Rovers on the break. Against the run of play, Wednesday hit Rovers on the break as the ball soon broke for Josh Windass whose effort wrongfooted Thomas Kaminski, via a deflection, before finding the back of the net to put the hosts 1-0 up and temporarily move them closer to safety, due to results elsewhere falling in their favour.
In the 40th minute, Corry Evans was shown a yellow card for infringing inside the Wednesday half. From the set-piece, Tom Lees popped up at the back-post to connect with the free-kick, but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
After a fine save from Kaminski denied Adam Reach from doubling Wednesday’s lead was followed up by a block off the line from a Rovers man, referee Paul Tierney called for two minutes of time to be allocated onto the end of the first-half.
With those two extra minutes bringing nothing to scream and shout about, the half was soon brought to a close with Rovers being left to deal with a familiar feeling of ‘we’ve dominated the ball, but have nothing to show for it.’
The Sheffield Wednesday coaching staff, who were filling in during ex-Rovers coach Darren Moore’s absence, would have been delighted with how their team had stayed defensively resolute, but also provided a huge threat at both, set-pieces and on counter-attacks. The coaching staff would have no doubt had one eye on the results of the teams around them, and would have been encouraging their players to continue their fine first-half performance in the hope of moving one step closer towards the ‘great escape.’
Tony Mowbray would have, in contrast, been close to pulling his hair out at half-time, given how easily his side had been turned over on the break, despite dominating 54% of the ball. The boss, who admitted that his side weren’t at their best on Friday, but was pleased with how they had come from behind to beat Derby County, would have been calling on his players to produce and show the same character and desire that had been on show a couple of days ago, in order to – in his words, ‘prove that Wednesday’s fight won’t overcome the bravery of our playstyle.’
After both teams returned for the second 45 minutes, it was Rovers who got the game back underway as they looked to try and save themselves from the standard embarrassment which comes with losing to a side in the relegation zone; a feeling they felt a few weeks ago against Wycombe Wanderers.
Wednesday continued where they had left off in the first-half as they managed to earn a free-kick on the right-hand side, which Barry Bannan whipped in. Julian Börner managed to rise highest in the Rovers box, but the German centre-half lacked the accuracy required to double his side’s lead, as the ball cleared the crossbar.
After a quiet eighteen-minute spell, Tony Mowbray made four changes at once on the 68th minute in an attempt to push the balance of the game back in his side’s favour. Lewis Travis, John Buckley, Stewart Downing and Ben Brereton all came on to replace Corry Evans, Tom Trybull, Harvey Elliott and Sam Gallagher.
In the 74th minute, Joe Rothwell was booked for dissent, as he became the second Rovers man in the evening, to be cautioned.
A minute later, after Sheffield Wednesday’s free-kick was ballooned over, they made their first changes of the tie as Andrew Green and Callum Paterson replaced Kadeem Harris and former Rover, Jordan Rhodes.
In the 77th minute, Rovers tried to hit Wednesday with a counter of their own as Ben Brereton found Armstrong, who galloped down the wing before finding John Buckley, whose first-time effort was well saved by Westwood.
In the 80th minute, Barry Bannan also received a yellow card for dissent.
Rovers’ final change of the evening, which came in the 84th minute saw Joe Rothwell depart and be replaced by Tyrhys Dolan.
The introduction of the youthful winger didn’t help change Rovers’ fortunes much as, despite four minutes of time being added onto the end of the game in the 90th minute, by referee Paul Tierney, Rovers failed to replicate the positive 5-0 result that they earnt last season, at Hillsborough as Tony Mowbray’s side failed to prove that their ‘bravery of playstyle can overcome fight.’
Putting the manager’s words aside, it’s important to highlight where we are at the moment. Two wins in 17 games is still unacceptable, from a team with the quality we have. Although Friday’s game against Derby County saw some relief, it was still nowhere near good enough, regardless of whether we still have something to play for or not. As noted in the last report; ‘After finally picking up a win, lots of Rovers fans will still not allow the happiness of a victory to cloud their judgement regarding the overall picture of where the club find themselves after what has been a tough footballing year’, sadly, even though this comes after another loss, that thought process has still not changed.
Just when you thought the threat of relegation seemed rather foolish to think about, Mathematics decides to throw you a curveball. Rovers, after 43 league games, sit in 16th place with 50 points and a positive goal-difference of +5.
We now head into the final three league games of the season, where Rovers have a big say in whether they sleepwalk into the relegation battle. First up, is a home clash against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, 24th April at 3pm. After that, the lads make the trip back to Yorkshire, where they face Rotherham United on Saturday 1st May at 3pm. Following the season’s final away trip, the fan-less campaign is wrapped up at Ewood Park, where Rovers host a rather revitalised Birmingham City on Saturday 8th May, at 12:30pm.
