Rovers put their names into the hat for Monday’s 2nd round FA Cup draw after eventually brushing aside Barnet in a 3-1 victory at Ewood Park.
Tony Mowbray warned his team, in his pre-match interview, to guard against any potential complacency that may have occurred as a result of playing a lower league opponent. Additionally, he also placed down a challenge to his side to match the intensity and passion that Barnet were sure to bring on match day.
The Rovers team that lined up to start the Blue’s FA Cup campaign saw a wholesale of changes – six in total – to the side that drew 2-2 against Fleetwood Town on Tuesday, including a formation change, which saw Rovers start in a 5-2-2-1 formation. David Raya, Ryan Nyambe, Craig Conway, Richie Smallwood, Peter Whittingham and Marcus Antonsson all dropped out of the starting line-up – with Nyambe, Whittingham and Antonsson being on the bench – and they were replaced by Jayson Leutwiler, Paul Caddis, Sam Hart, Rekeem Harper, Corry Evans and Ben Gladwin respectively, who were all allowed to prove to the manager why they should be in his thinking for the league games. Fan favourite Joe Nuttall also made the squad after his goal-scoring antics against Fleetwood Town; however he had to settle for a place on the bench.
Prior to the game, an impeccable minutes silence was observed as part of the remembrance traditions which take place every November to honour those who have lost their lives fighting for our freedom.
Once both teams and the officials were ready, Barnet got the ball rolling as they kicked off the game; however the first chance of the tie fell for Rovers inside the first 7 minutes as Danny Graham came close to putting the Blues in-front. Ben Gladwin picked up the ball on the right-hand side and delivered a wicked ball across the face of goal, however Danny Graham was unable to slide in to tuck the ball into the back of the net.
The Rovers pressure was to continue as minutes later, Bradley Dack also came close to putting Rovers into the lead. Much like Gladwin earlier, Dack picked up the ball on the right-hand side; however the former Gillingham midfielder cut in onto his left foot and unleashed a curling effort towards goal, which agonisingly missed the top left-hand corner of the goal.
Rovers’ best chance thus far came in the 15th minute, where Barnet keeper Craig Ross superbly denied Danny Graham from putting Rovers 1-0 up. The former Swansea forward was played through on goal as he peeled off the Barnet centre-back to only leave Ross between himself and the goal, however the keeper did well to stop Graham’s effort as the defenders were able to retreat and clear the ball.
Barnet’s first opportunity of the game saw them test debutant Jayson Leutwiler, who had replaced David Raya between the sticks for Rovers. Alex Nicholls got on the end of a cross by a teammate and headed towards goal; however the 6foot5 goalkeeper did well to deny Nicholls and stopped Barnet from taking the lead.
Despite his good save, Leutwiler was to concede the first goal of the game on the 31st minute mark to Simeon Akinola. Bradley Dack had picked the ball up in the centre of the park and his sloppy pass gave Barnet the opportunity to quickly break, which they did. As a result of Rovers’ high line during that passage of play, all three centre-backs were caught out and Jack Taylor was able to close in on goal, which saw the defenders panic and quickly back-track. Their efforts were to be in vain however as, as soon as they were able to catch up to Taylor, he unselfishly tapped the ball across the box to Akinola who was unmarked, leaving the forward with the easy task of stroking the ball home to put the Bees 1-0 to the good.
Rovers were almost able to respond immediately following the restart as Ben Gladwin had an effort smartly tipped over the bar by Ross in the Barnet goal.
The first-half came to an end with the Rovers fans far from pleased with what they had just seen from their team and this was evident due to the boos that echoed around Ewood Park as both sides left the field for their 15 minute break.
Both teams re-emerged for the second period, with their respective managers’ words ringing in their ears, however Rovers fans were delighted to see that Joe Nuttall had come on for the second half, as he replaced Sam Hart, which saw Rovers revert back to a more traditional 4-4-2, rather than the 5-2-2-1 they had failed to use in the first 45 minutes.
The game was restarted by Rovers and it was evident that their confidence had taken an upturn during the break as they quickly came out of their starting blocks and put Barnet under immediate pressure as Ben Gladwin’s volley went out for a corner which allowed Rovers to rack up their corner count inside the first 5 minutes of the half.
The first corner resulted in a Charlie Mulgrew header being cleared off the line, which saw Bradley Dack’s follow-up attempt, deflect behind for another corner. The next corner was headed on by Graham; however Ross made a point-blank save in order to stop the queue of Rovers players at the back-post from levelling the scores.
Following the corners, Rovers had another chance to level the scoring through substitute Joe Nuttall on the 54th minute mark. Ben Gladwin chipped the ball forward towards the 20-year old, who had the confidence to bring the ball down and try a volley towards goal; however the ball whizzed wide of the upright and kept Barnet in-front. 6 minutes later, Corry Evans got himself booked for a foul on the edge of the Rovers penalty area. This booking was his fifth of the season meaning the Northern-Irish international will serve an automatic one match ban as a result, which will see him miss Rovers’ next league game away at Bury.
Rovers’ sustained pressure, finally paid off as the deadlock was broken on the 63rd minute mark by substitute Joe Nuttall. Evans and Dack played some lovely football on the edge of the Barnet penalty area, before the former played in the latter who subsequently squared the ball to Nuttall, who was able to poke home from around 12-yards to level the scoring at 1-1.
This saw Rovers’ pressure increase further, as seconds following the restart; Rovers were nearly ahead through Danny Graham. The forward bore down on the central defenders following the kick-off and was able to block Ricardo Santos’ attempted long ball. Graham then picked up the ball and closed down on goal, however Santos was able to make a great recovery to stop his side from going behind.
2 minutes later, Joe Nuttall nearly grabbed a second and a third as he side-footed his first effort wide after he got on the end of Bradley Dack’s corner. His second attempt saw him try and capitalise on a poor back-pass, however the keeper was able to recover well and deny Nuttall.
Rovers’ second goal came minutes after the defensive error that almost led to Nuttall scoring. Danny Graham was played in down the right-hand channel and the forward was able to drive forward into the box and smash the ball past Ross from an acute angle in order to put Rovers ahead for the first time in the game.
The goal sparked changes from either side, as Rovers brought on Marcus Antonsson and Elliott Bennet for Ben Gladwin and Bradley Dack respectively, whereas the visitors replaced Simeon Akinola with Ruben Bover.
It didn’t take Antonsson long to make an impact on the game as 11 minutes after coming on, he was able to put the game to bed with a goal from 20-yards out to put Rovers 3-1 up. Barnet shot themselves in the foot following another defensive error, which the Swede to capitalised on. He picked up the ball and drove towards goal before a well-placed strike saw the ball fly past Craig Ross in the Barnet goal.
Barnet then resultantly made their second substitution in an attempt to salvage something from the tie, as midfielder Wesley Fonguck was replaced by an attacker in the form of Benjy Aghadiuno. The final chance of the game fell to Antonsson, whose solid strike was well saved by the Barnet goalkeeper, as he did his best to keep the score to a fairly respectable 3-1.
The game ended after four minutes of added time which saw Rovers and their fans relieved following the nail-biting first half where Rovers went behind. The win also sees the Blues go into Monday’s draw for the second round, which is to be shown live on BBC 2 and BT Sport 1 at 7pm on the 6th of November, where Rovers will be ball number 15. The draw does not yet include the teams from the Championship or the Premier League; however Rovers will be hoping that they get another team from League 2, or potentially, a side from the Conference which would give them the best possible chance of progressing in the tournament.
Rovers now move onto their next fixture, which is a Checkatrade Trophy game against Rochdale on Tuesday. The next league game however, is in two weeks’ time on the 18th November, away to Bury, who are currently manager-less after sacking Lee Clark.
