The win against Wigan was a great boost as at half-time there were a lot of long faces around me at the SoL but we showed again that we can change things round and battle back. Cirkin was a standout player and I hope the rumours of Spurs and others chasing him don't come to fruition. Roberts and Clarke are a delight to watch and display so much creativity, something we didn't see too much of in our slide down the leagues.
Anyway, we've been very much on the up in the last year or so and with players like them and the new youngsters, the future's looking a lot brighter. This will be something of an emotional night for Tony Mowbray as he returns to his former club.
Blackburn are currently in fifth spot and they don't bother with draws, having won eight and lost seven so far. They've averaged one goal for and one against per game and hopefully the against will continue this evening. Gooch is a doubt for us but if we field the side that started the second-half on Saturday, I'll be happy. I'll be watching the game with my diehard mates in Fitzy's and my prediction is 1-1.
When I got to the pub, I saw the team-news and, as expected, Gooch was out and Evans had returned. In the Blackburn team Szmodics rang a bell and not a pleasant one. My mates’ predictions were 3-2, 2-0 and 1-0, to us of course. The pub was very quiet but a few more came in as kick-off approached.
We put together a great move, involving a back-heel, in the second minute that culminated in Cirkin shooting wide. We were denied a corner shortly afterwards when the ball clearly came off a Blackburn knee but a goal-kick was given. Patterson made a low dive to collect a good cross and both sides were pressing whenever they could so it had been an exciting opening ten minutes. Around the half-way mark Pritchard had a decent shot from just outside the box that went not too far over. We got the first corner of the game shortly before the half-hour mark but it was easily cleared and Pritchard promptly got the first yellow. Next thing we looked to have a clear penalty shout when Clarke was fouled but referee Craig Pawson wasn’t having it and when Blackburn broke, Brereton put them ahead with a shot from the right angle of the box. As can be imagined, this went down very badly in Fitzy’s with much cursing and gnashing of teeth. The numerous replays on Sky still made it look like a penalty to us. O’Nien conceded our first corner and Patterson held the ball well when it came across. Five minutes before the break Szmodics had a Cattermole-esque goal attempt that went out for a throw to us on their right. Clarke had a good header on target and in the dying minutes we were doing most of the attacking but it remained 0-1 at the break.
The mood in the pub was by no means deflated and given the second-half performances in the last two games we were optimistic that with a change or two we could get back into the game.
As we kicked off again there were no changes. A few minutes in, Cirkin was booked for a clear bit of shirt-pulling near the left edge of our box and from the resultant free-kick Wharton headed them into a two-goal lead, though was he offside? Our heads didn’t go down and there was plenty of time for a goal or two. A Batth header forced Kaminski in goal into a great save and we really kept the pressure on as Blackburn pulled everybody back. As the hour-mark passed it looked like we were about to make a sub or two and soon we brought Ba, Diallo and Bennette on for Pritchard, Embleton and Neil. The game was getting a bit too tasty and Alese went down under a reckless tackle and he hobbled off but managed to continue for a short while before being replaced by Hume. In the midst of it all Diallo went into the book for something that escaped us all. A curling Clarke free-kick went narrowly over but Blackburn were creating some good chances of their own. Bennette had a powerful shot on target and with ten minutes left, in the pub we were just hoping for a consolation goal – we’d done a lot of pressing and deserved one. Blackburn were defending well and as full time approached that elusive goal was looking increasingly unlikely. Five minutes of stoppage-time were announced and there was no way past the home defence so it ended 2-0.
With all prejudice and Peroni aside, I think both of their goals were very dubious but there was still a lot to like about our performance.
