Making a point on away draws
BLUE-EYED BOY’S BLACKBURN VIEW
IN all my time watching football, other than in exceptional circumstances, I’ve never regarded a draw away from home as any kind of disaster, certainly not early in the season away to the unbeaten table-toppers, and Saturday’s at Shrewsbury followed by a highly impressive home win against Rotherham sets Rovers up for a nearperfect eight days’ work if they can uphold Tuesday’s standards and overcome managerless (at the time of writing) Gillingham.
I predicted on Twitter just ahead of last weekend that few if any sides will win three in a week and that a return of seven points would almost certainly see our position strengthened. As far as my calculations see it, only Southend United have taken maximum points from the first two rounds and it’s possible that Tony Mowbray’s side could nudge into an embryonic play-off spot by Saturday tea-time which should at least see the ditsiest of the weekly knee-jerk reaction mob pipe down for a week.
A lot of the most annoy- ing twaddle spouted on social media and message boards is to do with the fact that the modern fan, aided and abetted by football institutions and their broadcasting partners, is conditioned unto a memory span sufficiently short to make the average goldfish look like the font of all wisdom.
Tuesday’s victory con brio had even the most cautiously-inclined of supporters like myself purring with approval. From the very off, Rovers moved the ball, and, crucially, themselves around the field in such sparklingly purposeful fashion that a stultifyingly mediocre Rotherham clearly couldn’t cope.
Having narrowly missed out on several early opportunities it could have been one of those frustrating halves which ends in frustration but we kept at it and got our noses in front with the kind of simple set-piece goal which looks simple precisely because it’s been practiced to death on the training ground and featured the class delivery of a very fine footballer coupled with an intelligent late near-post dart.
It was just reward for the team and for Marcus Antonnson, inexplicably and mercilessly maligned since his debut by those who see a couple of indifferent displays here and there as reason to vent spleen and fulfilment of their prophecies based on A) how “He couldn’t get in Leeds team; B) What “my mate who’s a keen Leeds fan says” and C) What fans of his former club say on their forum. (See also Paul Downing, composed and assured against Rotherham, written off by a good number as a bad signing five minutes after his deadline day capture).
It’s a strange way of greeting and encouraging new players. On most of those bases, we’d never have signed Graeme Le Saux or Ian Pearce and goodness knows what the reaction to taking unemployed Tony Gale on as he prepared for a career in non-league would have been.
For a spell in the second half, Rovers managed to make hanging onto the slender lead harder work than it ought to have been but Rotherham’s inability to really threaten other than one uncomfortable moment when we were thankful a ref’s assistant spotted an offence not immediately apparent, made it a bit of a mystery how they arrived as league top scorers having banged a few fives and fours in.
I’m in the minority in believing that Mowbray has got his handling of Harry Chapman bang on. I said to my companions early on that if we continued to stretch their back four as we were doing early doors he would have a field day if introduced after an hour, and while their foothold back in the game meant his entry was slightly delayed and less of a banker joker card, again he added a fresh dimension against tiring defenders.
He will enthral and infuriate in equal measure, as demonstrated by his fine goal and a mild, forgiveable aberration moments later, both borne out of the Gazzalike eagerness to be star turn.
That second goal was much-needed and someone who loves individualists as much as I do isn’t complaining about the tendency towards greediness which deprived us of the added sheen of a third when that same effervescence drove the loanee to attempt a second shot and score rather than cross when his first effort was blocked. The celebration made me feel very old!
There will be a time for him to start games but on this I actually trust Mowbray who sees him train each day and may be a better judge how long he can impact a game for.
Whatever, it was great to see motion, skill and fluidity from most quarters. At times it was almost like watching the Under-23s, irresistible again in thrashing Fulham’s kids 4-0 at Leyland on Monday. Damien and Dunny have really stamped a style on that team and the seniors will have to continue to play as well as they did on Tuesday to hold them at bay.
But perhaps Mowbray has finally, whether by design or accident, hit upon a cohesive configuration to make a meaningful impression on League One.
Dack, who I don’t think we’ve seen the best of yet, is key and there are signs that he is growing into the role as a link between a front one or three and the midfield. A little more sharpness and he will certainly add to his first Rovers goal at Shrewsbury. He, the hard-working pair Samuel and Antonnson and Whittingham all ought to have emphasised Rovers’ superiority against Rotherham Same again Saturday, please.