FIVE-STAR ROVERS ON A HIGH Mowbray’s men bash Wycombe
Hat-trick hero has Mowbray purring
RUTHLESS Blackburn Rovers gave Wycombe Wanderers a lesson in Championship realities with a thumping 5-0 win at Ewood Park.
Adam Armstrong led the way with a hat-trick, while teenager Tyrhys Dolan and Derrick Wilthey liams also netted as Tony Mowbray’s men ran riot against the Chairboys, who had defender Darius Charles sent off.
Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth said: “I was totally shellshocked being 3-0 down. I thought after ten minutes we were well in the game and then proved what I’ve been thinking about this league, it’s going to be so tough. You’ve got some real clinical finishers.”
Reading and Luton lead the way in the Championship. The Royals beat Barnsley 2-0, while the Hatters edged out Derby 2-1.
TONY Mowbray praised “single-minded” Adam Armstrong after he netted a hat-trick in the thrashing of 10-man Wycombe.
After two defeats in a week, Rovers were three-up by halftime courtesy of an Armstrong penalty and tap-in either side of a first senior goal for Tyrhys Dolan in his first ever league start.
Wycombe were reduced to 10 men following Darius Charles’ dismissal, and Rovers went for the jugular, with a close-range Derrick Williams goal, before Armstrong completed his hattrick late on.
The 23-year-old has now scored five goals this season in all competitions and Mowbray said: “Adam was a bit disappointed after the game. He should have scored more goals.
“Armstrong loves scoring goals. He’s very single minded. Yet he’s such a good lad that when I put him on the left wing in two years, he didn’t moan, he kept cutting in on his right foot and bending it in the top corner.
“Now he’s getting his opportunity to play down the middle, I think he’s almost trying to show me that’s where he plays, that’s what he is and that’s what it’s going to be like moving forward.”
The Chairboys showed plenty of heart, but the contest was a mismatch from the moment Dolan’s trickery brought about the penalty.
It marked a nightmare return to Ewood Park for Gareth Ainsworth, a lifelong Blackburn fan, and his side are still searching for their first goal and point.
Blackburn’s first meaningful attack resulted in the opener when Matt Bloomfield clumsily brought down Dolan.
Armstrong stepped up and clinically dispatched the penalty into the right corner of the net.
After winning the penalty, Dolan marked his first start with a goal in the 20th minute as Rovers cut through their opponents.
Lewis Holtby’s pinpoint pass gave the teenager a clear sight of goal and although Ryan Allsop repelled the shot, he showed excellent composure, sliding the ball under the keeper. Joe Rankin-Costello thumped the ball against a post moments later, but it was only momentary respite as Rovers netted a third in the 33rd minute, a fine move rounded off when Rothwell’s cross was tapped in at close range by Armstrong.
Wycombe’s nightmare afternoon worsened in the 57th minute when Charles was shown a straight red card for bringing down Armstrong.
It was no surprise when Williams tapped home a fourth after Allsop had superbly kept out Rothwell’s piledriver. And Armstrong capped a perfect afternoon when he calmly rolled the ball beyond the keeper.
Ainsworth said: “I was totally shellshocked being 3-0 down. I thought after 10 minutes we were well in the game and then they proved what I’ve been thinking about this league, it’s going to be so tough. You’ve got some real clinical finishers.
“But at the end of the day it was mistakes from us that cost, which was disappointing.”