It was a controversial end to an ongoing Fourth Round tie, as Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City were forced to meet again on Tuesday night, in a replay at St. Andrew’s after a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park couldn’t separate the two sides.
Given that Rovers had a week to prepare for the break in league action, Jon Dahl Tomasson made two changes to the side that were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw – Rovers’ first of the campaign – which came away at Bristol City, last weekend. Hayden Carter and Sam Gallagher came into the side, as the suspended Daniel Ayala departed the side and Jack Vale dropped to the bench. There was some good news for the Blues, as Sammie Szmodics was deemed fit enough for the bench, despite five ongoing injuries to first-team players. New signing, Sorba Thomas, was ineligible to make his Rovers debut, after signing on loan from Huddersfield Town in midweek, after playing for the Terriers in their 3-1 defeat to Preston North End, in the previous round.
With 3,957 away supporters taking advantage of their club & principle sponsor’s offer of free coach travel to the game, the atmosphere at Ewood Park was set to be a lively one, with the visiting support in constant voice against their club’s ownership. As both sets of supporters filtered into the ground, despite the miserable weather conditions, it was the visitors – after a false kick-off – who got the game underway, looking to try and keep the game inline with the liveliness of their fans.
The opening three minutes of the game certainly lived up to those expectations as former loanee, Reda Khadra came back to bite the hand that used to feed him, as the ex-Rover took advantage of some incredibly sloppy play by Rovers to put the Bluenoses into the lead early on. Tyler Morton’s simple, but short ball to Bradley Dack inside the Rovers final third saw Gary Gardner intercept and feed the Brighton and Hove Albion winger, who took a touch to keep the ball under his spell before drilling a low effort from around 20-yards, which proved too strong for Thomas Kaminski, as the ball bounced into the roof of the net via his right glove to make it 1-0. Although the winger scored his second goal in three games for the Second City side, he refused to celebrate against the side that gave him his first real experience of first-team football.
Rovers tried to hit back within three minutes of the opener, as Sam Gallagher tried his luck from distance, but saw his effort blocked behind for a corner which Birmingham managed to clear with ease.
Ben Brereton Díaz tried to grab his first goal since before the break for the World Cup, as he cuts inside onto his right-foot and looked to sneak one in at Neil Etheridge’s near-post, but the Philippine international made the simple stop at his near-post.
With 16 minutes gone on the clock, Khadra again looked to try and beat his former teammate, but the good positioning of Kaminski and a slice of luck saw the ball squeeze through the keeper’s legs and deflect wide off his trailing leg and go behind for a corner, which fizzled out to nothing.
Five minutes later, Rovers were on the attack again as their Chilean attacker looked to try and get the second-half of the campaign up and running as his curling effort from distance forced Etheridge into a save down to his left-hand side.
Moments after Brum cleared their lines, Joe Rankin-Costello was given the first booking of the game after he clattered into Tahith Chong.
Rovers drew themselves level through Bradley Dack in the 33rd minute, as the playmaker grabbed his sixth goal of the season, following an excellent Rovers move that saw them restore parity at 1-1. John Buckley picked the ball up inside the Birmingham half and fed Joe Rankin-Costello who played a one-two with Ryan Hedges down the right-hand channel, before the right-back’s attempt from inside the area was parried onto the crossbar by Etheridge. The visiting defence were unable to clear from the rebound off the woodwork, as Sam Gallagher failed to connect with the follow-up which fell to Bradley Deck who tapped home from close-range.
Chong, in the 40th minute, soon went from victim to perpetrator as he was booked just before the break for fouling Sam Gallagher.
Thomas Kaminski was again called into action before the end of the first period, as he managed to palm a Lukas Jutkiewicz diving header past the post for another visiting corner, as Rovers again stood their ground to deny the visitors a way back into the lead.
After three minutes were added onto the end of the game, referee Keith Stroud soon brought the first period to an end, with both sides lacking the potency to take their chances in order to go into the break with the lead.
During the break, whilst Rovers were unveiling new acquisition, Sorba Thomas to the Ewood Park crowd, Jon Dahl Tomasson would have been addressing his team’s first-half performance at the break by encouraging them. The boss would have been reminding his team to stick to their game plan, despite the early error, whilst also trying to up the tempo of the game and try and push the visitors back.
John Eustace would have also been encouraging his side, despite their bright start which saw them take an early lead. The former Watford midfielder would have wanted his side to continue in the same form, despite Rovers having most of the first period, to try and keep Birmingham’s unbeaten FA Cup record against Rovers alive, after four previous meetings in this competition.
Just before Bradley Pack got the ball rolling again for the second-half, Rovers made a change at the break, as Tyrhys Dolan came on to replace Ryan Hedges, for the next 45 minutes.
Rovers started the second period in the finest of fashions as after some opening pressure, as they, in the 47th minute, managed to get their noses in-front for the first time in the game, courtesy of Joe Rankin-Costello, who netted his second Rovers goal, after netting in the 2020-21 EFL Cup First Round, in the 3-2 victory over Doncaster Rovers. After some indecisiveness within the Birmingham backline and some pressure from Rovers, Tyler Morton intercepted the ball on the edge of the Birmingham box and laid it off for Joe Rankin-Costello, who released a first-time strike that curled outwards and past the outstretched glove of Neil Etheridge, as Rovers took a 2-1 lead early on in the second period, as the home crowd turned up the volume inside Ewood Park.
Ten minutes later, Rankin-Costello was back at it again, as he once again trapped the ball under his spell and tried to notch a left-footed effort to complete his brace, but his left peg lacked the accuracy of his right, as the ball flew wide of the mark.
Rovers continued to pile on the pressure in the second period, as Ben Brereton Díaz tried his luck from a tight angle, but Neil Etheridge was well-placed to save the attempt.
Another good save came down the other end, as Thomas Kaminski denied Chong his first FA Cup goal for Birmingham City, as the attempt proved straight at the goalkeeper.
On the hour mark, two former Middlesbrough players looked to try and pry Rovers open, as George Friend’s cross to Lukas Jutkiewicz saw the attacker cause a scramble in the Rovers box, but the ball didn’t panic Kaminski, who had it covered as he was soon awarded a goal-kick.
Whilst Kaminski hadn’t panicked for Jutkiewicz’s attempt, he certainly did two minutes later, when Khadra tried to sneak one in at the near-post, as the Belgian used his feet to good effect, to keep Rovers in the lead.
Birmingham pushed forwards in the 64th minute, but overcommitted which saw Rovers catch them out on the break through the pace of Tyrhys Dolan and Ben Brereton Díaz. The Chilean played a one-two with the substitute, as Brereton Díaz looked to try and net Rovers’ third by chipping the ball over the on-rushing Etheridge, but the forward’s accuracy lacked as the ball dropped next to the side netting, leaving the departing forward laying on the turf with despair and regret,
From the stoppage, prior to the 65th minute goal-kick, John Eustace made a triple change as Scott Hogan, Alfie Chang and Hannibal Mejbri replaced Reda Khadra, Krystian Bielik and Gary Gardner.
Four minutes after the change, Tyler Morton became the third player to be booked in the game after tripping Chong.
Rovers and Brum made changes in the 76th minute as Lewis Travis replaced John Buckley for the home side, whilst Juninho Bacuna was introduced alongside a switch to a back four, as former Burnley defender, Kevin Long departed.
Rovers’ fine play from the restart saw Lewis Travis nearly earn an assist after seconds as he pulled the ball back to Bradley Dack whose weak shot was dealt with by Etheridge.
After Joe Rankin-Costello’s brilliant pressure, he won a corner for Rovers which was played short to Dolan. The substitute’s eventual cross fell for former Birmingham loanee, Gallagher, whose header failed to test the visiting shot-stopper.
Scott Wharton became the next player to be booked in the 80th minute, for pulling back George Friend.
After Hayden Carter’s 85th minute header dropped wide of the post, Hannibal Mejbri soon had a strike at goal from a free-kick, moments later, but was denied by Kaminski, with Ben Brereton Díaz being booked for the foul via a shirt pull.
An 87th minute Rovers substitution saw Sammie Szmodics replace Bradley Deck, whilst two minutes later, Jordan James was introduced for Tahith Chong.
Thomas Kaminski came to Rovers’ rescue in the 90th minute when he denied Jutkiewicz’s effort from close-range to keep Rovers in the lead as five minutes of added time were soon added by Keith Stroud.
Just 60 seconds into the added time, all of Rovers’ good defensive work was undone and made redundant as Birmingham forced a replay as substitute Jordan James opened his account for the season after some individual errors from Rovers sparked scenes of disgust around Ewood Park from the home support. After Scott Wharton failed to control the ball and tried to compensate for his error with a missed lunge, which seemingly injured him in the process, an unmarked Hannibal Mejbri burst down the wing and pulled a low cross back towards the edge of the area where James was waiting, as he exuded composure and calmly stoked a first-time effort into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, as Thomas Kaminski again failed to get a strong hand behind the ball, as the score was levelled back to 2-2.
As Birmingham celebrated, Rovers made their fourth and final change for the final moments of the game as Jack Vale replaced Sam Gallagher.
The scenes of delirium from the near-4000 visitors was sadly subdued by a fan invading the pitch from the home end, but even worse so, an accusation of racial abuse from the Blackburn End, by Birmingham City goalkeeper, Neil Etheridge, which sparked an elongated delay, as Keith Stroud not only discussed the incident and reported it to the respective benches, but also tried to stop a scuffle between the two sets of players.
After order was restored, Rovers tried to go long, but Birmingham kept possession well, as time was soon called on a game that will ultimately be remembered for a vile few seconds that has no place in neither, society, nor the all inclusive sport of football.
Following the game, both teams released respective statements, which are printed below:
“Blackburn Rovers is aware of allegations of racist abuse reported to the match officials by Birmingham City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge during today’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Ewood Park.
“Referee Keith Stroud notified the players and managers of both clubs of the alleged incident, which will now be fully investigated by Blackburn Rovers and the relevant authorities.
“Allegations of this nature are taken extremely seriously.
“The club has a zero tolerance policy for all forms of abuse and discrimination, and will take the strongest possible action against any individuals identified for committing such offences.
“No further comment will be made at this time.”
“Birmingham City has issued the following statement.
“The Club can confirm that during the second-half of Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers, after the game’s fourth goal, Neil Etheridge reported an incident of racism to the referee.
“Subsequently, the match official, Keith Stroud, delayed the restart and spoke to the head coaches and captains of each side as per competition protocol.
“This will be included in the official’s match report and the Club will assist the FA and the authorities accordingly.
“Blues gives its full support to Neil. There is no room for racism in the game.
“No further comment will be made at this time.”
In a game that offered Rovers a chance to bounce back after a two-game winless run, they failed to hold onto the lead after showing immense character and ability to come back and take the lead after going behind so early on. Whilst Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side showed glimpses of quality, particularly in the second-half, they also showed their Achilles heel throughout the game with lapses of concentration and poor ball retention, offering the visitors their own routes back into the game for them.
With Transfer Deadline Day on the horizon, Rovers will not be comfortable with that major event taking place during their next game, which ironically, is the replay for this tie. The Blues will travel to the Second City on Tuesday 31st January and play John Eustace’s side at 7:45pm. After their cup fate is decided, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s men will return home to host Wigan Athletic – now managed by former midfielder, Shaun Maloney, after Kolo Toure’s sacking – on Monday 6th February at 8pm, live on Sky Sports. In two weeks time, Rovers are again on the bus heading southwards, with Hertfordshire their next destination, as Watford and January target, Ryan Porteous, await on Saturday 11th February at 3pm.
