Rovers made it three wins on the spin after showing great resilience and composure to come back from conceding an early goal, to beat Millwall 2-1, who lost their first home game in four matches. After the game, a jubilant Jon Dahl Tomasson showered his team with praise as they managed to fight back and win from a losing position for the first time this season in the league.
“What a brilliant win in London! We know how difficult it is to play against Millwall and the lads showed great resilience to come back and win the game after going behind after two minutes. It wasn’t our best game on the ball, but the lads showed another side to our game which was togetherness, a fighting spirit and resilience!
“The first goal we scored was excellent and it epitomised how I see football. Lots of one-touch football, off-ball movement, pass and move and a great finish after some brilliant play from the right-hand side. Callum (Brittain) getting his first goal in around four years, after a lovely switch of play from James (Hill) was amazing. It was a great finish from Callum. We showed great character to defend extremely well towards the end of the game. We have been training a lot on those types of defensive situations where we’re defending the box and we’ve shown resilience away against a very good side. We know that Millwall are good at putting the ball into the box. I’m pleased to give our fans a victory they deserve, to send them home happy, as they also have a long journey back to Blackburn, like we do.
“I’m pleased that we’ve managed to come back. We know it’s never easy to come back. Goals cost a lot and suddenly, that can demotivate a team early on, but those young players stayed in the game, showed great resilience and a great attitude to come back and earn a well-deserved win. We probably should have killed the game to settle the nerves, but they fought well for those three points.
“Callum should use his left-foot every day, whether in training or games! He should use it to curl the balls into the top corner every time(!) He’ll be pleased with that goal!
“Scott (Wharton) has been waiting patiently for his chance, as it’s not easy to be sat on the bench, not playing. We kept him up to speed with a lot of internal games, so when the chances arrive, he’s ready to step in and make an impact and perform. I thought Scott did really well, but we’re, of course, disappointed to lose Dom Hyam, our captain. Hopefully, that’s nothing serious, but the lads showed their strength with a great performance.
“Dom is set for a scan, tomorrow. We should wait and see what the results say, but he’s a tough cookie, he’ll want to play every game, even when in pain. What I know about Dom, is that he will try his very hardest to get back playing as soon as possible, even if he is in pain.
“Andy (Moran) is okay. That was a tactical change because he had treatment. I was afraid because of Millwall’s corner, that we would have one less player on the pitch against this tall Millwall side, as we would have had to wait 30 seconds for him to come back on. I had originally planned another sub, but we changed that quickly. But Andy is fine.
“We head into every game searching for three points. Sometimes we’ll win, sometimes not. We lost four in a row, before this run that we’re on, but we could have even won all of those games! That’s part and parcel of this great league which is packed with quality. Football is also a game where you need a bit of luck to get the first goal, or a goalkeeper makes an amazing save to keep you from conceding. The attitude and resilience that this young team has shown is great to see.
“The supporters are crazy for coming down to London on a Tuesday night, but I love it!”
