ARMSTRONG’S STUNNER HURTS ‘SLOPPY’ RAMS
ADAM Armstrong’s piledriver earned Blackburn victory over Derby – but boss Tony Mowbray said the winning margin should have been much greater.
Armstrong’s 57th-minute stunner was the difference between the sides, but that didn’t tell the story of their dominance. Blackburn were well worth the three points and possessed the confidence and intensity that Derby lacked.
After their fourth successive win, Mowbray praised his side’s intensity in controlling “vast swathes” of the match.
He said: “It felt as if we should have made it more comfortable. At 1-0 it’s always dangerous but our collective spirit has got us through. Every team that does alright has to win 1-0 and see those games out.
“It was important for us to win because, when you’ve won three in a week, it’s easy to think you’re a decent team and drop off the intensity, and we worked hard to make sure the intensity was there and they produced a good performance.”
In-form Bradley Dack almost profited from a poor clearance early on, showing composure to fashion an opening, but he directed his shot inches wide.
Next, he had a chance to finish off a flowing Rovers counterattack but swept his shot over, and Danny Graham went close towards the end of the half, glancing a header into the side-netting.
Rovers should have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Krystian Bielik was caught dithering on the ball and Lewis Travis released Armstrong in the area, but his shot was repelled by the foot of Ben Hamer.
The Rams were hardly in the game but almost took the lead 10 minutes after the break through a sensational 30-yard shot from Bielik which curled just wide with Christian Walton well beaten.
But they were behind when an incisive Corry Evans pass found Armstrong on the edge of the area and he hammered a thunderous drive that flew past Hamer at the near post for his fourth of the season.
Ryan Nyambe put his body on the line to block a rasping Kieran Dowell drive, before Blackburn substitute Sam Gallagher saw his shot blocked. Derby pushed for a late equaliser and finally forced Walton into a save when substitute Jack Marriott turned sharply and unleashed a rasping effort 12 yards out, but the Blackburn keeper got down well and ensured the points went to Mowbray’s men.
Rams boss Phillip Cocu described his team’s performance as “sloppy”.
He said: “It’s nothing new. We struggle creating, taking shots on target. If we get shots, especially in away games, they’re not on target. We had a slightly different approach to the game. We wanted to stay in the game for as long as possible, so it was more compact.
“That part of the game, the lads did good. But when we had the ball, in the first half, it was unnecessarily sloppy. It wasn’t high pressure or very intense from Blackburn. We just made a lot of bad decisions.
“We didn’t create a lot. Second half, we tried to push more forward and we did well. I was waiting for the equaliser. We were close to getting the goal but we also had a lack of luck.”