By Jack Watson
I really wish I made the journey across to Ewood Park, but it was too expensive and I already made the trip earlier in the year. Nonetheless, I watched it at home and it was another great game of football to watch; it was open, fast and very entertaining, especially in the last third of the 90 minutes.
We have now won back-to-back games and Rosenior has made some huge improvements, eradicated our problems and we look like a team that can easily push for the top six, which is what we were promised at the beginning of the campaign. Thankfully, we did not let our defeat at Carrow Road in the opening game of the season put us down and we are now back on track, which is something we struggled to do last season.
Blackburn headed into the game with one win on the opening day against West Bromwich and a draw last week to Yorkshire side, Rotherham. They are a great side and they just missed out on the play-offs to goal difference last season, which has to be a big blow to take. For The Tigers, we lost our opening game to a last minute goal against Norwich, but we put things right last week, with a 4-2 home win against newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday.
The opening line-up was the same, save our new signing–our best one this summer–Scott Twine replacing Jason Lokilo. We were set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Ingram, in goal; Lewie Coyle, Sean McLoughlin, Alfie Jones and Jocob Greaves, as the back line; Regan Slater and Jean Seri just below them; Adama Traore, Ozan Tufan and Scott Twine above Liam Delap, who was, again, up-front on his own. I was surprised that Twine was starting, I thought it was a bit odd sticking him in after just having a week to train with us; however, it did not change anything and he settled in well. On the bench was: Harry Vaughan, who had a great game here last season when we visited; Oscar Estupinan; Jason Lokilo; Aaron Connolly; Xavier Simons; Brandon Fleming; Andy Smith; Thimothee Lo-Tutala and Cyrus Christie. Rosenior is spoilt for choice with options, especially with Sayyadmanesh back in training.
It was clear from the start that the game was going to be very open and both teams were desperate for the three points, but it was the visitors who had two great early opportunities; in the 8th minute, Tufan had the ball played to him in the box, but his shot was saved and cleared away by a Blackburn defender and just after this, Scott Twine got past his man on the left wing, drove into the box, however, his shot was parried away by the keeper.
We continued to dominate and were pressuring their back line superbly, especially Twine, who seemed determined to get his first goal in black and amber. Due to our high press, Delap won the ball in the 16th minute, but when he drove into the box he was tackled by Pickering, who clearly did not get the ball and prevented us from taking the lead. The defender received a red card and we were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, but Twine put it over the bar.
We had 4 shots in the first 20 minutes; however, after the red card the hosts took control and we sat back, which we should not have allowed them to do; if they ended up scoring, they could defend comfortably and we could potentially have struggled to get back into the game. Thankfully, we did not allow them to have a decent attempt and the first period ended goalless; however, I felt that we could have taken advantage of having more men than them. Nonetheless we looked good in all areas.
There was a great opportunity for us to take the lead straight after the whistle blew in the second period; Delap drove to the box, but put it over the bar. That was the only spark of hope for a while and Blackburn controlled the game after. I have to say they played some good football throughout the game, but the finish and the delivery into the box was a problem that they could not get right.
Then, disaster struck. In the 74 minute Blackburn took the lead, which was fortunate and unexpected. Ennis drove forward with the ball and, though his first shot was blocked, it deflected into the feet of Gallagher who could not miss. We could have prevented this from happening and we seemed to have a moment of panic at the back, which is what allowed Norwich to score two weeks ago.
However, we responded fantastically and this is what I want to see throughout the season; determination and resilience because we know we can quickly turn things around, which is exactly what we did. In the 80th minute, we equalised. Seri neatly chipped the ball into the box and Connolly, onside, awaited to smash it into the net. But, the excitement did not end there. Blackburn hit the post from a counter-attack after the restart and they had three chances on goal in the 86th minute; however, they couldn’t increase their advantage and that reprieve left us free to deliver the knockout blow to Blackburn, who did well with 10 men. In the 86th minute, Alfie Jones spotted a smart run from Connolly and he neatly delivered it to him, with just Pears to beat. He calmly slotted it in to make the crowd behind the goal go wild. What a promising and exciting season we are going to have.
Overall, I do feel disappointed that we did not take the lead earlier and we could have also prevented Blackburn from scoring, however, it did not matter and we did an exquisite job to comeback and take the three points. Our performance was, again, amazing and hopefully we are consistent week in, week out. Could this be the start to a run, which ends in glory?
