The Lads went to Ewood Park and came off worse by two goals, and while the home side were unarguably well organised and exceedingly quick to pack their box when we attacked, both goals came after clearly incorrect decisions by the officials.
As our Ian said afterwards, exhume Ray Charles and give him a whistle. We ended the game with six little ball-players on the field, who took it in turns to dance into the home box only to come up against a forest of defensive legs.
After a pretty tortuous journey down (rush hour past Bradford and Keighley, amongst other places) that took over three hours to do the 105 miles from Spennydorm, there was no time to seek refreshment. Slightly dismayed, we took our seats in the lower Darwen end, which the Lads set up to defend as we lined up...
Patterson
O'Nien Batth Alese Cirkin
Neil Evans (c)
Roberts Embleton Pritchard
Clarke
...and a bench of Bass, Ba, Amad, Michut, Bennette, Wright, and Hume.
The home side kicked off, and after a couple of minutes came down our right, needing a sharp dash to his right and a brave dive amongst feet by Patto to snuff out the threat. Soon after, Cirkin, obviously with the smell of a goal still lingering in his nostrils from the weekend, flashed a low shot across the home goal. Patto was taking crosses well, but when we moved forward the hosts got bodies back quickly, forcing us to play it back to get forward. Pritch might be able to put good balls into the box (as he did for Cirkin on Saturday) but he's no winger and Clarke just isn't a big enough target.
Blackburn's big number 9 towered over Batth who did well to prevent his opponent winning anything dangerous in the air, and on the half hour we cleared another attack and went down the established route on the left - via Alese to Cirkin, who galloped into the box. It looked very much like a foul that dispossessed him, even from a hundred yards away, but Mr Pawson said no, and away came Rovers. Two passes later, they were near our box, we blocked a shot and the loose ball rolled to Diaz in their right. His powerful curling shot from twenty yards gave Patto no chance, and for some reason he made a point of goading our fans as he celebrated. A great finish, but he shouldn't have had the opportunity.
Unusually for a controversial incident, the challenge on Cirkin was replayed on the big screen - and clearly showed a foul. Come on, football, get these refs sorted out.
Before we'd had time to gather our thoughts - and as we watched the young eejit in the mag shirt be removed from the seats to our left - we needed a spectacular diving header over the bar by Luke to prevent it reaching Diaz at the back post with Patto out of position.
We did manage to put together some decent attacks, with Roberts gradually overcoming the two defenders deployed to keep him quiet. A cross from the right found Clarke in a central position, but his header wasn't far enough from the keeper and he dived to his right to collect comfortably. A couple of free-kicks eventually went our way, earning the ref some ironic cheers, and Pritch drew a decent save with his effort from one of them.
A single added minute was announced, we kept Blackburn far enough away from Patto, and the half ended. When I checked my phone, I had 23 messages, all of which had the same content "definitely penalty", some with more than one expletive directed at the ref. Very frustrating that, despite the home side looking dangerous, the only time they'd scored was when we should have been celebrating a successful penalty at the other end.
No changes for the second half, and it started badly for us. After only four minutes, we conceded a free our on our left near the corner flag. In it came, and the header was glanced beyond Patto for the second - but almost immediately the phone went crackers again - offside. When they decide against you, they decide against you and don't try to even things up - Mr Pawson obviously hadn't watched any replays during the break. You have to wonder why not.
With a two goal lead, Blackburn became increasingly unpleasant in their defence of it. Either their attitude or their second goal seemed to get on our nerves in a positive way, and we used both wings to get at their box. Roberts skipped past his dual markers as if they weren't there, on one occasion seeming to carry the ball past more players than actually existed before running into a crowd of legs in the box. When we tried a higher ball in, Batth's header was well saved, then the changes began. On 64, Diallo (or Amad), Ba, and Bennette replaced Neil, Embo, and Pritch, and suddenly we had players with quick feet darting all over midfield. Clarke got into to box along the by-line but too many defenders blocked his path, then O'9 overlapped and fired in low cross that was eventually hoofed away.
Whenever Blackburn broke, it was Diaz who was chasing forward down the inside left channel, and we had to be on our toes to keep him away from Patto. In 71 Alese galloped over from the left to win the ball, but was cleaned out in pretty violent style - no card, but at least we got a free kick. After being absent from the field for several minutes, it was clear that Alese could barely walk, so on came Trai Hume at right back, with O'9 switching as our back four rearranged itself. We seemed to cause countless goalmouth scrambles, with Rovers clearing it off the line and getting bodies in the way of things. It seemed as if the ball simply had to bobble over the line at some stage, but it just wouldn't. Roberts was our chief architect, dashing in from the right to find Ba, Bennette, or Amad, but there were always too many defenders in the box. We were screaming for the Lads to pull the trigger, but as Clarke dashed along the edge of the box, you could see he wanted to but you could also see that he realised there were at least two sets of legs in the way.
With eight minutes to go, Michut replaced Evans and we became a team of ball-players. Time and time again we pinged it around the edge of the box or danced into it, but not shots got through and there was always the threat of a Rovers break as we committed men forward. When we won a corner, a Rover threw the ball to a ballboy, who promptly put it down, and a bit of a melee ensued. With that ref, I fully expected us to get a red, but we didn't. A couple of really questionable offsides went against us, five added minutes were announced, and we kept pressing.
It nearly ended even more badly, as with virtually the last kick, Blackburn cleared another attack, and a shot from the centre circle caught Patto off his line but swerved to glance off the outside of the post. Losing 2-0, given the circumstances of both goals, was bad enough, but that one would have been a bit much.
A spirited second half with some determined and skilful play brought a load of half chances but not enough shots, and it was an unhappy return for Mowbray. I expect he'll have some bad thoughts about the officials, but he'll probably keep them to himself. Against a big strong side like Rovers, the absence of Stewart and Simms was glaringly obvious.
Man of the Match? Roberts for me - he's just nice to watch, and in another game could have had a handful of assists.
