BRAD BAGS THIRD IN A WEEK
Mowbray thrilled as Dack attack seals a first win for Rovers
TONY MOWBRAY paid tribute to match-winner Bradley Dack after the forward bagged his third goal in five days.
Dack – the reigning League One player of the year – stabbed home at close range to hand the visitors a richly deserved first league win of the season.
In tandem with striking partner Adam Armstrong, the 24-year-old was a class act all day, tormenting a shot-shy Hull side and cementing his status at Blackburn’s creator-in-chief.
“I still remember the first time I saw Bradley,” said Mowbray, who was celebrating his 600th game in management. “I was at Coventry. We played Gillingham and we were 4-0 up after 20 minutes.
“But this little tubby kid was fighting and scrapping and eventually scored for them in the second half.
“That stuck in my mind, and I waited for the chance to sign him. We did, and he’s been everything I hoped he would be.
“He’s like a kid in a playground. He wants the ball, he wants to play nutmegs, he wants to shoot from distance and create chances. He’s just a joy to work with every day.
“We paid £750,000 for him but he’d be worth a lot more than that on the market now. Thankfully for us, he’s not on the market and he knows he’s in a great place.”
Hull are most certainly not. Insipid, toothless, undercooked. Owner Assem Allam, whose ongoing war with fans has turned the KC into a ghost town, wants his club to be known as Hull Tigers. The underfunded youth team he has foisted on Nigel Adkins are more like kittens.
Blackburn, by contrast, fizzed with energy and invention, buoyed by an unbeaten start and Tuesday’s Carabao Cup cakewalk in Carlisle.
Armstrong and Dack shared four of the five goals in Cumbria and both could have filled their boots by half-time.
Dack headed over from a tight angle. Armstrong, pouncing on
a mistake from Todd Kane, tore through on goal but was foiled attempting to round David Marshall. Dack then spurned a glorious opportunity, slamming straight at the Hull keeper from six yards out.
But after a brief flurry of Hull pressure and an ugly clash of heads that saw Stephen Kingsley leave on a stretcher, Dack finally found his mark.
Armstrong – a waspish presence at the hub of all Blackburn’s best work – turned his man and found Elliott Bennett. His right-wing centre begged a finish and Dack obliged, evading a static Jordy de Wijs to poke home at the near post. Chances were scarcer after the break, an injury to Dack blunting the visitors’ edge. Still, the pattern of play altered little. Hull were neat and tidy, but impotent in the final third; Blackburn were sharp and incisive but lacked a clinical edge.
That was evidenced several times as Hull flagged. Armstrong miscued after a deep cross from Ryan Nyambe, then forced another fine save from Marshall. From the rebound, a sliding Bennett somehow contrived to miss an open goal from eight yards.
Marshall – surely the busiest man on Humberside – then repelled a header from substitute Danny Graham.
Rovers almost paid for their profligacy. In stoppage time, De Wijs met a cross with a thunderous header that David Raya barely clawed away.
But as the jeers that greeted the final whistle illustrated, one chance does not disguise the fact that Rovers should have registered their second handsome victory of the week.
“On the opening day at Ipswich, we conceded a goal in the 93rd minute and dropped two points despite dominating the game,” said Mowbray. “It could have happened again, but thankfully it didn’t.”
Rovers, then, have niggles to iron out. Hull’s issue are more fundamental, though manager Nigel Adkins put on a typically brave face.
“Give credit to the opposition,” he said. “Blackburn have had time to put a squad together and they know what they’re doing.
“Second half, we got the ball in the attacking third on occasions. Jordy had a great chance. But we didn’t bring the quality – which I know we do possess – to the forefront.”