Rovers’ penultimate home game of the season saw them produce a ‘five-star’ performance as they took out their anger of the past couple of months, on a despondent Huddersfield Town side who continued to look over their shoulder in fear.
After Rovers had to suffer with their midweek loss away at Sheffield Wednesday, where the Yorkshire side emerged 1-0 winners, Tony Mowbray shuffled his pack with four changes to Tuesday’s game. Ryan Nyambe, Amari’i Bell, Lewis Travis and Ben Brereton all came back into the side, as Elliott Bennett, Barry Douglas, Tom Trybull and Harvey Elliott all dropped to the bench. There were three milestones among the Rovers side as Amari’i Bell made his 250th career league appearance, whilst Adam Armstrong marked his 200th career league start and Ryan Nyambe earnt his 150th career league appearance.
Following the usual pre-match formalities, it was Huddersfield Town who had kick-off as they looked to try and edge closer to safety, with a win at Ewood Park that could had enormous consequences throughout the bottom-half of the table.
It only took five minutes for Lewis Travis to ‘let them know you’re there early’ as the midfielder picked up an early caution for fouling Town midfielder, Lewis O’Brien.
Two minutes later, Rovers showed their attacking intent as Adam Armstrong looped a ball over the top of the Huddersfield defenders, into Ben Brereton’s path. The forward did well to bring the ball down and strike at goal, but a deflection saw his effort put behind for a corner.
Despite not being able to find the net from the initial effort, the corner that Brereton won provided the much-needed opening for Rovers to set the tone of the game. Joe Rothwell crossed the ball in and a poor piece of goalkeeping from Ryan Schofield saw the ball fall perfectly for Armstrong to nod his 23rd goal of the season in from yards out, to put Rovers 1-0 up after eight minutes.
Rovers weren’t going to rest on their laurels as after a period of Huddersfield possession, Rovers won the ball back in the 17th minute and started another attack which again saw Ben Brereton try his luck. The 22-year old managed to again get into a fine position to strike at goal, but Schofield produced a fine save to deny the former Nottingham Forest man his sixth of the campaign.
Another chance materialised for the 22-year old as Rovers continued their dominance inside the opening quarter of the game. Armstrong and Brereton again combined in the 21st minute as the former teed up the latter, but the young forward’s finish was wide of the mark, despite the ‘keeper looking worried.
It was a case of ‘fourth time lucky’ for Brereton, as only a minute after his previous attempt, he managed to get the goal he had been threatening. A lovely through ball by Armstrong allowed Sam Gallagher to gallop down the left-wing with all the time in the world. The target man did well to compose himself as he cut into the penalty area, before laying the ball off to Ben Brereton who executed a fine finish, past a sliding defender and a helpless goalkeeper, to double Rovers’ lead to 2-0.
On the 26th minute, Rovers picked up their second booking of the game as Darragh Lenihan was cautioned for fouling Danny Ward.
In the 34th minute, Amari’i Bell found himself with space down the left as he steamrolled into a crossing area. After delivering an early cross into the box, the ball bounced perfectly for Armstrong to have a go on the half-volley, but the striker saw the ball get caught under his feet as it trickled into the feet of a Huddersfield man, before the Terriers cleared.
Huddersfield finally managed to get themselves up the field and try and trouble Thomas Kaminski. Danny Ward broke away on the counter and tried to find the near-post from a tight angle, whilst also trying to shake off Darragh Lenihan, but the forward could only find the side-netting.
It wouldn’t be Blackburn Rovers if they didn’t make things difficult for themselves, however, and that’s exactly what happened in the 45th minute as Huddersfield Town managed to pull a goal back. A combination of Ryan Nyambe being ‘at the wrong place at the wrong time’ and pressure from Lewis O’Brien saw the ball bundled into the back of the net, after some good wing-play by Josh Koroma saw him turn Amari’i Bell inside out, before putting the ball across the face of goal for a teammate to nod home. O’Brien duly obliged as his attempt deflected in off of Nyambe, meaning it was officially an own goal, but O’Brien did well to help reduce the arrears to 2-1.
It wasn’t long after kick-off where referee Tim Robinson called time on the first-half which saw Rovers in control for all bar one split second loss of concentration.
Had Rovers not conceded so late on, Tony Mowbray would have been happier than probably was, in the dressing room. Although Rovers had less of the ball at 45%, they had shown good attacking instincts and quality in order to put Huddersfield to the sword during the opening 25 minutes of the game, yet the late goal they conceded would have undoubtedly been a huge part of the manager’s team-talk.
Terriers boss, Carlos Corberán, would have had an opposite reaction in his dressing room. The Spaniard would have been frustrated at how easily his side had contributed to their own downfall, and he would have been alarmed as to how nonchalantly Rovers had been able to cut through his defence like a hot knife through butter. The former Leeds United coach would have been quickly hatching a plan to try and take advantage of Rovers’ defensive frailties, given they had left their opponent on the ropes, with the late sucker-punch.
After both teams reappeared for the second period, it was Rovers who got the game back underway, knowing that a win in this tie would secure safety in what has been an incredibly underwhelming campaign.
Rovers flew out of the blocks in the second period as after only nine minutes of play, they restored their two-goal cushion, courtesy of Adam Armstrong’s second of the game. Lewis Travis did well to win a throw-in and take it quickly in order to find Brereton who put on the afterburners in search of a second. His run was awarded with an assist as he managed to lay the ball off perfectly for Armstrong to sweep home for 3-1, as he became the first player since Jordan Rhodes in 2013-14 to score 25 league goals for Rovers
Mowbray’s side weren’t done there, as they went for the quick-fire double, only three minutes later to make it 4-1. Some fine pressure by Rovers saw Armstrong capitalise on a loose ball and move into the right-hand channel of the box in order to stretch the Huddersfield defence. The Geordie forward fooled his man with a fine chop before pulling the ball back for Sam Gallagher, whose strike from just outside the area proved too hot for Ryan Schofield to handle, as he could only palm the ball into the net to make it 4-1, as Gallagher notched his eighth of the season.
Following the Gallagher goal, Huddersfield made a triple change which saw Pipa, Juninho Bacuna and Carel Eiting depart and be replaced by Aaron Rowe, Rolando Aarons and Duane Holmes.
Three minutes later, Adam Armstrong decided to mark an hour of the game, with his second hattrick of the campaign, with the first also coming at Ewood Park against Wycombe Wanderers. Brereton continued his fine performance by getting in on the act with a ‘hockey assist’, as he helped the ball onto Joe Rothwell. The speedster did well to find Armstrong, who himself was cutting in from the left, before a calm and composed finish saw the ‘Angel of the North’ bag his second match-ball of the campaign as Rovers put the game to bed at 5-1.
The Terriers’ fourth came in the 64th minute, as saw Rarmani Edmonds-Green replaced Richard Keogh, whilst Rovers’ first change saw Jacob Davenport enter the field at the expense of Lewis Travis.
Four minutes after their fourth change, Huddersfield’s final change came in the 68th minute, as Scott High came on for Jonathan Hogg.
In the 67th minute, Armstrong tried to earn a personal tally of four with a long-ranged effort, but Schofield was on-hand to deny the marksman another.
Tony Mowbray played the rest of his hand on the 74th minute as the four remaining substitutes he had available entered. Elliott Bennett, John Buckley, Harvey Elliott and Tyrhys Dolan all entered the fray as Ryan Nyambe, Joe Rothwell, Sam Gallagher and the hattrick-hero Adam Armstrong all departed.
The 80th minute nearly saw half-a-dozen racked up on the Ewood Park scoreboard as a poor clearance from Schofield – which summed up his afternoon – saw Jacob Davenport pick the loose ball up before finding Tyrhys Dolan, whose deflected effort looped up and was cleared off the line by a panicking Naby Sarr.
Moments later, Dolan was on the receiving end of a challenge from Terriers substitute, Duane Holmes, which saw the American booked.
With Rovers dreaming of a sixth, Huddersfield managed to give them a fright by grabbing a goal back in the 82nd minute, through a fantastic strike by Josh Koroma. The 22-year old picked the ball up on the edge of the Rovers box, before dropping a shoulder and curling the ball into the top-right-hand corner of the goal, with Thomas Kaminski rooted to the spot as the Terriers made it 5-2.
Dolan seemed determined to get in on the scoring as in the 87th minute, his quick feet and trickery saw him create a yard of space before firing at goal, but Schofield was on-hand to turn it behind.
The 89th minute saw Rovers earn their third booking of the tie as Jacob Davenport was cautioned.
As the 90th minute ticked over, referee Tim Robinson added on an extra three minutes, as Rovers continued their quest for a sixth goal.
Added time, sadly, didn’t bring the sixth goal as Rovers had to only settle for the five, they had scored as the penultimate home game of the season was capped off in style.
Football is a very strange game, isn’t it? Who would have thought that after two wins in 17 games, Rovers would come out and put five past a team they lost to in the reverse fixture? This team have today, shown their worth, but their frustrating (in)consistency has ultimately been their downfall. Many have argued in respect of the possession-style, with yours truly even arguing against it, highlighting that the team operate better without the majority of the ball, given the strength and pace at the top end of the pitch. Whilst football is a game of opinions, of course, and you’re not going to win every by scoring five goals, it is cause for concern for the manager heading into next season. Would you rather lose nine games by 1-0 whilst holding 60%+ possession or would you rather risk being dominated, but remain solid defensively, knowing you have a counter-attack in your arsenal? It’s a case of fine balance, one which Rovers have thus far, failed to master.
Following that fine performance, Rovers have now mathematically secured themselves Championship football for another season and currently sit in 15th place with 53 points and a positive goal-difference of +8 from the 44 games played.
The final two games of the campaign sees Rovers face one team struggling with the relegation battle and another who are also safe. The first is Rotherham United, on Saturday 1st May at 3pm, at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, whilst the second sees Rovers host Birmingham City at Ewood Park on Saturday 8th May at 12:30pm.
