Following Rovers’ convincing 3-0 win over Portsmouth, Rovers boss Tony Mowbray summed up his thoughts on the game with Rovers’ media team. He also discussed the sending off of Dominic Samuel, as well as the overall performance of his side.
“I think it’s a performance that we have been looking for. Scoring goals is good for the confidence and good for the supporters, I think we got our just rewards today; I thought we started the game really well. We were really positive and created chances; we should have scored a few more in the first half to be honest, as we had some great chances and it felt like it was going to be one of those days again, but we stand in here with a good 3-0 result, which is enough for me.
“I thought a lot of different qualities were shown today, some really good, slick football in the first half and then some really good battling qualities in the second half, I don’t think we showed any fear by sitting in and defending as we always looked like we were going to score more goals, so hopefully it’s the start of a trend where we can score more than the odd goals in games. Portsmouth came here to play football, they didn’t really sit in and make life difficult and they were a threat who we prepared for as we knew they were good on the counter-attack. Elliott’s (Bennett) brother, Kyle is a sharp, quick, little footballer who sits behind the striker and is always a menace, but we saw that off today and got the right result.
“We always try and score from the kick-off; we’re always talking about starting fast and on the front-foot to see if we can get a few early shots on goal and I think with this team, getting the first goal gives us a fantastic chance to win the match. I think the back four are looking really strong at the moment, especially during the last couple of games. You have to give Paul Downing a special mention as I think he’s played four games and has got a clean sheet in all four of them, he looks very assured and very composed alongside Charlie (Mulgrew). He helps get the team up the pitch a bit higher than how we’ve recently been playing, he helps the midfield press and close down more and also helps the strikers; which helps us win the ball back earlier during the opposition’s build-up. So there have been good signs today, I’m still frustrated about Tuesday night’s result, in not winning a game where we probably had more chances to go in-front than we did today, but you can only deal with the next game, but it was good to get the three points today.
“I think the three goals were taken well, I’m delighted for Bradley (Dack) and obviously for Danny (Graham). We’ve been working hard with Danny on his fitness and his work rate and undoubtedly he can finish, which we all know and have seen by today’s goal where he’s almost passed it into the net. The team is a balance, you have to run and work and chase in the modern game, it’s an athletic game, he’s working extremely hard, his benefits and rewards helped the team win the football match and as I’ve said, I’m delighted for Bradley and for Craig (Conway) who would have been disappointed not to start today. He came to see me this week to say he was fully fit after picking up a couple of knocks as his hip was really sore, but he’s feeling fit again. He’s obviously a big player for us moving forward and I’m delighted that he’s scored and helped us see the game out.
“The opposition are going to dictate the strikers that play for us, if we’re playing away from home and teams are pressing us really high, Samuel, who I know has obviously got himself sent off and will be missing for the next three games, allows us to use his speed in behind, when teams are playing high up the field. Danny will understand as we move forward, sometimes when we’re playing against a block of nine men behind the ball, as we did on Tuesday, it’ll be easier to go over the top of them into a big centre-forward who’s got upper-body strength, rather than trying to pass our way through. We’ll utilise them all, (Marcus) Antonsson didn’t play today because he played in the last two games of a three game week, but they’ll all play their part. With the sending off to Samuel, that potentially promotes (Joe) Nuttall into the group so we’ll keep going and keep pushing on. I think the key thing, when you look at the table, is Shrewsbury winning again and Wigan winning again. We need to keep in touch with them and we will get stronger throughout the season and when it all gels together, hopefully we’ll be in striking distance and will be able to hunt these teams down as the season unfolds.”
Mowbray was finally questioned on Dominic Samuel’s sending off as the boss gave his verdict on the incident as well as saying how the player himself reacted once the full-time whistle had blown.
“I was a bit annoyed because I felt as if the referee should have dealt with the incident before the incident of the sending off and yet I can’t stand here and defend him, you can’t go kicking people on the pitch as he did. He’s apologised in the dressing room, he’ll get disciplined for that because we’re now without our main centre-forward for the next three games and they’re games that we have to try and win. It’s a hugely frustrating incident, yet I think the official should have seen that he was being grabbed, held back and blocked three or four times before lashing out, but I can’t condone what he did because the team will now suffer without him.
“We’ve got to confidently go to Wigan and take the game to them, but I would say that they are a good side, I’ve watched them once or twice this year and they’ve got some good technical players. I know the manager well; he likes to play forward and attractive football. That’ll be our strongest and biggest test of the year, it’s not going to be defining for us, but it’ll be great to go there and get a positive result.”
