ROVERS GO DACK TO THE FUTURE
BRADLEY Dack has the X-factor according to Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray after he inspired Rovers to a comfortable win at Bury.
Marcus Antonsson scored a firsthalf brace, with Dack creating both goals, before the summer signing from Gillingham sealed victory with a 63rd-minute strike.
That sent Blackburn back into the League One play-off places while rock-bottom Bury have now lost five of their last six league games.
Mowbray said: “After the run Bury have been on, we knew there’d be a reaction. They’d try to compete and make it a battle.
“But a couple of bits of quality knocked the stuffing out of them. It could have been a dangerous game for us but we finished it pretty comfortably.
“That’s why Bradley is here. Every team’s organised, works hard and is physical, but sometimes you need an extra ingredient of quality and class to open up teams, and Bradley’s got that.
“We worked in training with Marcus about coming in from the left, off the back of their right centre-half, and he did it brilliantly for both the goals.”
Managerless Bury also lost 3-0 at home to non-league Woking in the FA Cup in midweek yet started brightly, with Harry Bunn and Chris Humphrey testing David Raya before Greg Leigh fired wide.
But Blackburn, now seven unbeaten, struck with their first attempt on 12 minutes. Lone striker Joe Nuttall laid off for Dack, whose ball behind Phil Edwards was perfect for Antonsson to run on to and fire high past Leo Fasan.
Antonsson turned a Dack knockdown just wide before Fasan rushed out to deny the Leeds loanee. The corner eventually fell for Nuttall, making his first league start in English football, to fire over from close-range.
The Shakers briefly rallied, with Humphrey side-footing into the side-netting from a tight angle, but then the Shakers stood off on 37 minutes as Dack played a diagonal ball into the box for Antonsson to head home.
Bury brought on Chris Maguire and Michael Smith either side of the break, switching to 4-4-2, and Maguire tested Raya with, first, a free-kick and then a dangerous cross. But Dack was then allowed to charge forward unchallenged and unleash a 20-yard strike into the bottom corner, while Bunn went closest to claiming a consolation. Bury’s caretaker boss Ryan Lowe said: “We hoped there’d be a reaction and we had one for the first 15 minutes. But then we conceded an avoidable goal and crumbled. “We’ve talked a lot this season about individual errors but I don’t want excuses. We maybe started feeling sorry for ourselves but I want them to stand up and be counted.”
STAR MAN BRADLEY DACK Blackburn