Rovers sealed a third successive opening day Ewood Park victory, for the first-time in the club’s 148-year history, as Jon Dahl Tomasson’s young side overcame an experienced West Bromwich Albion, on the opening day, courtesy of a quick-fire double from two league debutants.
There was a sea of change at Ewood Park over the summer, as Belgian international goalkeeper, Thomas Kaminski and academy graduate defender, Ashley Phillips both departed to the Premier League, with Luton Town and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively, whilst Tayo Edun also joined Charlton Athletic on a permanent basis. Whilst three departed, three also joined, with Norwegian Sondre Tronstad, Icelander Arnór Sigurðsson and 2022-23 League One champion, Niall Ennis all joined the squad, with Swedish international shot-stopper Leopold Wahlstedt watching on from the stands as he edged closer to signing on the dotted line.
One constant throughout the summer, was Head Coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson, who selected a very strong side to kick-off the 2023-24 campaign, as newly anointed #1 Aynsley Pears – who penned a new deal in May – donned the new bespoke red goalkeeping jersey. In-front of him were a back four of Joe Rankin-Costello – also fresh off a new contract – Hayden Carter, Dominic Hyam and Harry Pickering. Sondre Tronstad came in for his competitive debut for the Blues, as he sat at the base of a midfield trio that also included captain, Lewis Travis and the endless running of Sammie Szmodics. Rounding off Rovers’ 4-3-3, were the two league debutants, Dilan Markanday and Harry Leonard, who capped off Rovers’ attacking trio, alongside Tyrhys Dolan.
With the starting-11 in place, the extended bench, which now was able to hold nine players included: Joe Hilton, Callum Brittain, Scott Wharton, Jake Batty, Jake Garrett, Adam Wharton, John Buckley, Ryan Hedges and Niall Ennis.
Just prior to the season kicking-off, the Rovers fans were treated to a guest appearance, as League Cup-winning goalkeeper and former American international, Brad Friedel was paraded in-front of the Ewood crowd.
As the optimism built inside Ewood Park ahead of the new campaign, the two teams were greeted onto the pitch by rapturous applause, as 16,741 fans – including 2,925 Baggies fans – increased the decibel levels inside the ground ahead of the start of kick-off, which was taken by Sammie Szmodics.
A quiet opening quarter of an hour nearly burst into life on the 18th minute, as Matt Phillips tried his luck from range, but the former Blackpool winger was foiled by the strong fists of Aynsley Pears who swatted the ball to safety.
With Pears denying Albion the first goal at Ewood Park in 2023-24, that honour soon fell to debuting winger, Dilan Markanday in the 20th minute, who made it one-for-one in terms of his league appearance to goal ratio after some fine work, both defensively and offensively. The attacker nicked the ball off Conor Townsend, inadvertently finding Harry Leonard, who burst towards goal. Despite being urged to shoot, the young attacker was crowded out as Okay Yokuşlu poked the ball away into the path of the onrushing Lewis Travis who had the positional awareness to help it into the feet of the unmarked Markanday who slotted a first-time effort across the face of goal and into the bottom left-hand corner for 1-0!
It only took around 10 seconds for 1-0 to become 2-0 as rapid-fire Rovers shifted into full gear! From the Jayson Molumby’s kick-off, Yokuşlu found Cédric Kipré. The Ivorian defender picked out Sammie Szmodics who nicked in ahead of Nathanial Chalobah and set Rovers off on another attack. Szmodics showed his class to slip Leonard in who snuck in behind the discombobulated Kipré, before firing another first-time effort past the despairing Alex Palmer to double the host’s lead!
West Brom tried to rally their troops as newly-appointed skipper, Jed Wallace looked to reduce the deficit in the 26th minute, but Pears was on-hand to claim the effort comfortably.
In true ‘Lewis Travis fashion’ a booking came the way of the Rovers captain, as he got stuck into the visitors, before Szmodics followed him on the half-hour mark for a soft challenge on Molumby.
In the 34th minute, Dolan and Szmodics combined, with the Rovers #10 looking to curl one from range, but Palmer proved alert enough to dive to his left and keep the scoreline somewhat in Albion’s reach.
Szmodics turned from provider to striker in the 41st minute as his effort from Leonard’s pass deflected behind for a corner, which Rovers played short, before the move broke down.
With the 45th minute ticking over, gasps echoed around Ewood Park at the announcement of seven added minutes of time being added on at the end of the first-half, which coincided with new EFL regulations that tried to offer 90 minutes of action, rather than the previous average of around 50 minutes. That regulation also saw the removal of towels for throw-ins and the introduction of a ‘multi-ball’ system across the country to allow for quicker restarts for set-pieces.
The half’s final act prior to intermission saw Okay Yokuşlu booked following a heated argument with the official, Dean Whitestone.
Jon Dahl Tomasson would have been satisfied with his side’s first-half display, as they capitalised on the visitor’s mistakes to take a two-goal lead into the break. The boss would have been quick to remind his young team of the intensity and the skill that the relentless Championship season brought and would have no doubt casted their minds back to moments last season, where Rovers had let seemingly comfortable leads slip.
Carlos Corberán would have been tearing his hair out at the shambolic defending and cheap turnovers that his side had handed Rovers. The Spaniard would have been close to throwing teacups at the wall in the hope of brewing a reaction and fight in his side for the second-half.
It was the visitors who restarted the game for the second-half and it only took them three minutes to try and find a route to goal as Joe Rankin-Costello was forced into making a superb block to deny Molumby from close-range.
Moments after the block in the 48th minute, Hayden Carter was booked for some handbags with the visiting players.
The 50th minute saw the yellow card out again, but this time for Carlos Corberán, who had spent all game jumping around the touchline in an unorthodox attempt to rile his side up, but after exchanging words with fourth official, Jeremy Simpson and official, Dean Whitestone, the Baggies boss was cautioned.
Corberán’s words seemingly did the trick, despite them not being to the taste of the official, as Matt Phillips reduced the arrears to one. After Dilan Markanday won the ball back on the left, his indecisiveness saw Phillips pickpocket him, before the #10 played a one-two with Jed Wallace, before a curling effort found the bottom right-hand corner, beating the outstretched Pears as the scoreline was reduced to 2-1, with most of the second-half still to play.
Cédric Kipré, once a Rovers target, was soon booked in the 53rd minute for hauling down Szmodics. Jed Wallace soon followed the defender, two minutes later, as the Albion skipper tripped up Harry Pickering.
A 58th minute free-kick from Szmodics saw him tee-up Dominic Hyam for a header, but the reigning Rovers Player of the Season’s nod veered wide of the mark.
Moments after play was quickly restarted by Alex Palmer, Albion found themselves around the Rovers box as Joe Rankin-Costello intervened with an outstanding block tackle to dispossess Molumby, as the Rovers defenders scrambled backwards.
Just before the clock hit one hour, Jon Dahl Tomasson made a double change as Adam Wharton and Ryan Hedges replaced Sondre Tronstad and Dilan Markanday.
Albion made a switch of their own in the 66th minute as John Swift took the place of Nathaniel Chalobah.
Two minutes after the Albion change, Rovers were on the charge again as Travis found Leonard, but the attacker couldn’t restore Rovers’ two-goal lead.
Adam Wharton’s quality shone through in the 70th minute as he threaded Leonard through with an ‘eye of the needle’ pass, which left the Albion defenders for dead, but the young striker couldn’t double his debut tally as his left-footed shot dragged wide.
A triple change for West Brom came through in the 72nd minute as Kyle Bartley, Alex Mowatt and Jeremy Sarmiento replaced Cédric Kipré, Matt Phillips and Okay Yokuşlu.
With Corberán already on a booking, the animated boss pushed his luck to the limit as he was shown his marching orders by Dean Whitestone, leaving the game into the hands of his assistants Jorge Alarcón and Damia Abella.
Rovers were forced into a third change as Callum Brittain replaced Joe Rankin-Costello who showed why Rovers had extended his deal over the summer, after a fine display, but was withdrawn as a precaution against injury.
In the 84th minute, Leonard picked out Szmodics who tried to curl an effort towards the far-post, but his accuracy hadn’t warmed up to the level of last season, as Albion were awarded a goal-kick.
Prior to the restart, Taylor Gardner-Hickman replaced Jayson Molumby.
Dolan saw an effort blocked by the visiting defenders, before Ryan Hedges was booked for halting an Albion counter on halfway.
Rovers won a corner in the 89th minute which was played short before the ball was worked back to Szmodics, whose delivery was palmed into the path of Carter whose volley was blocked by Darnell Furlong, amidst calls for handball, as Rovers were awarded another corner which broke down as Rovers somehow got the ball back to Pears from their own set-piece.
Despite a minimum of nine minutes being added onto the end of the game due to the new EFL rules, Rovers learnt from past mistakes and managed to hold on and secure three points on the opening day, to leave a smile on the face of Jon Dahl Tomasson and the Rovers supporters.
As we all know, the season is a long and gruelling one, but every early point that Rovers can accrue will help towards the final tally, as seen by the end of last season’s table. Rovers showed their quality for a majority of the game, today, showing they were both able cause opposition problems, whilst keeping a solid defence. Whilst Albion showed signs of causing Rovers problems, Rovers ultimately controlled most of the game, but the boss would have been pleased with the defensive stability on the transition, despite the young guns within the team shining through.
The table is rather meaning less at this point in the season, but the three points and positive goal-difference of +1 sees Rovers settle into 5th place at the end of Matchday One.
With Rovers back in action and in full swing, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side are next back in action on Tuesday 8th August (7:45pm) in the Carabao Cup First Round as they host League Two’s Walsall. Next Saturday (12th August) sees a Lancashire vs Yorkshire derby as Rovers travel to Rotherham united for the 3pm start, before Saturday 19th August sees the Blues face second successive Yorkshire opposition, as Hull City make the trip to Ewood Park for the third game of the league campaign.
