Hero Adam comes on strong for Mowbray
ADAM ARMSTRONG played the role of supersub as Blackburn produced a smash-andgrab raid on Millwall.
An awful game was heading for a goalless draw until Tony Mowbray sent on Armstrong in the 74th minute.
He set up the opening goal in the 86th minute and then broke away to score Rovers’ second 60 seconds later.
Millwall’s Tom Elliott went down clutching his arm inside the opening 45 seconds. After a delay for treatment, the tall striker was replaced by Steve Morison.
Nuttall was clipped by Jake Cooper as he tried to reach Bradley Dack’s throughball in the 11th minute but play was waved on.
There was another early change in the 24th minute but this time referee Robert Jones was forced off injured, pointing to his left calf, with fourth official Gavin Ward taking his spot.
“You’re not fit to referee,” sang the Blackburn fans as Jones limped away.
In a rare moment of goalmouth action, Cooper met a Ryan Leonard corner in the 38th minute but sent his header well wide.
Aiden O’Brien headed tamely wide for the Lions in the 52nd minute from a Shane Ferguson cross while Leonard forced David Raya to push a long-range drive away in the first shot on target just after the hour mark.
Blackburn threw another striker into the mix when Danny Graham replaced Craig Conway in the 64th minute with Jack Rodwell nodding over a Harrison Reed corner soon after.
Ryan Tunnicliffe, a former Rovers loanee, then fired high and wide from a tight angle just inside the area in the 82nd minute.
Out of nothing, though, Blackburn went in front. An offside-looking Armstrong got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Joe Nuttall to force an own goal from Shaun Hutchinson.
A minute later it was 2-0. Lewis Travis won the ball in midfield and found Elliott Bennett, who slid Armstrong into space. He cut inside and his curling effort went in at the far post.