Rovers News

A wasted opportunity for Rovers as they are forced to settle for a point at Hillsborough. A third clean sheet on the bounce gave Rovers the perfect platform to make it seven points from the last nine available, however a lack of quality in front of goal cost them. Yuki Ohashi, Todd Cantwell, Moussa Baradji and Axel Henriksson were all guilty of being wasteful in the final third, with Valérien Ismaël admitting that Rovers are missing Icelandic striker Andri Guðjohnsen. Barry Bannan had the best opportunity for the Owls, but his lob dropped wide of Aynsley Pear’s goal. It’s a first clean sheet at home for Sheffield Wednesday this season, further highlighting Rovers’ current struggles in front of goal. Positives A third clean sheet in a row is a very impressive feat in the Championship, with Matty Litherland and George Pratt looking to cement their places in the starting lineup. Todd Cantwell was very much the main man and only lacked a goal to cap off his performance. His influence is ...

Rovers made it back-to-back clean sheets by picking up a well-earned point in the North East. Middlesbrough had the better of the first half, with Morgan Whittaker twice coming close to the opening goal — denied once by Aynsley Pears and again by the inside of the post. Rovers were much better in the second half and had a number of half-chances, however they lacked a clinical edge, with Axel Henriksson and Moussa Baradji coming the closest for the visitors. The main talking point of the game came in the 80th minute, when Hayden Hackney viciously kicked out at Taylor Gardner-Hickman. The Boro man somehow avoided a red card, despite the referee having a clear view of the incident. Nevertheless, it was a very respectable point on the road for Rovers against a side currently sitting 2nd in the division. Positives Back-to-back clean sheets with a makeshift defence once again highlights the immense team spirit within the camp. The importance of Sondre Tronstad was clear once more, with the...

A perfect day for Rovers as they return to winning ways against high flying Millwall. There were some surprise names on the team sheet as Rovers looked to overcome the loss of Ryan Alebiosu. Harry Pickering returned to the starting XI for the first time since September and there was a first team debut for 20 year old Matty Litherland. Pickering occupied left wing back next to George Pratt who was recalled to the side whilst Litherland took up right wing back.  It was the young, make shift wing back who helped create the opening goal less than three minutes in. He linked up with Ryoya Morishita down the right and firing goalwards, his shot was saved by Millwall goalkeeper, Max Crocombe and Andri Gudjohnsen was on hand to smash home the rebound for his seventh goal of the campaign.  Camil Neghli had the visitor’s best chance of the half to equalise ghosting into the centre of the box but his side-footed attempt narrowly went over the bar. Litherland almost added the second for r...

The recent proposal to boycott the Rovers v Watford game on 24th January has had very mixed opinions. Some fans believe the team needs all the support they can get in a season that has already seen low attendance figures. The other half of rovers fans believe that firm action needs to be taken to make a stand against the ownership. The recent example of Sheffield Wednesday fans boycotting their championship game against Middlesbrough brought success for owls fans. The protest was against former owner Dejphon Chansiri who had run the club into the ground according to Wednesday fans. Their aim was similar to that of the Blackburn Rovers Supporters Coalition - starve the owners of income and force them to sell. Barring a miracle, Sheffield Wednesday will be relegated this season due to their severe points deductions, but many of their fans would’ve taken that in order for a fresh start and new owners.  Blackpool fans also boycotted games in protest against Karl Oyston who treated the ...

 As we head to the midpoint of the season, the January transfer window looms. Valerian Ismael has stated he wants the club to act quickly in the market to strengthen his side, so what does he need? With Ryan Alebiosu heading to the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria, he could potentially miss 7 games for Rovers and with a lack of cover in the right back position anyway, one would think bringing in a right back will be almost a certainty. A profile similar to the Nigerian would be what Ismael wants - strong, quick, powerful, defensively solid and have the ability to provide goals from crosses. Replacing arguably Rovers player of the season won’t be easy. Rovers will have to adapt to cover Alebiosu for the next few games with Ryoya Morishita currently the favourite to take up that role. That would allow Todd Cantwell to take up the number 10 position and presumably Rovers would return to the midfield duo of Tronstad and Gardner-Hickman. Ryan Hedges has played pretty much everywhere t...

 Rovers beaten on the south coast as the same problems remain. A fine first half goal from Yuki Ohashi, his 5th of the season, wasn’t enough for Rovers as they squandered their lead to fellow strugglers Portsmouth in a 2-1 loss. Aynesly Pears was tested from distance a couple of times in the opening 45, first from Josh Murphy and then from right back Terry Devlin. The deadlock was then broken in what was a scrappy first half, 10 minutes before the break as Rovers’ Japanese striker received the ball on the left and drove towards the Portsmouth goal cutting in and finding the bottom right corner to give Rovers the lead. Rovers had the better of the opening stages in the second half with the best opportunity to double the lead falling to Dion De Neve who volleyed over from 10 yards.  Momentum then swung Pompey’s way as Rovers had a narrow escape with Pears keeping out Chaplin’s effort before Ribeiro blocked on the line from Lang and Pears again got back up to keep out Chaplin aga...

 Excellent away form? Or just horrific home form. Maybe both. It has been no secret this season that Rovers are struggling to win games at Ewood Park, 5 of their 6 wins have come away from home. But is the away form something special or is the  poor home form making it look more impressive. It is widely accepted that winning away games in the championship is tough so Rovers winning 5 out of 9 is an impressive feat. On their home patch though, only 1 win from 10 is a real cause for concern.  This time last season under John Eustace, Rovers sat comfortably in the play offs with one of the best home records in the league. 6 wins from 9 including winning the first 5 at home had Rovers fans  thinking about the possibility of play off football for the first time since the early 90s. A blip in November before an impressive 1-0 win against eventual champions Leeds United, saw Rovers with 19 points from a possible 27 at Ewood Park. A very respectable return. But Ewood Park of...

 Rovers 1-1 Oxford United You would have been forgiven last night for thinking you’d walked into a first round league cup tie given the ever decreasing Ewood park attendances and lack of quality on show. A very lethargic atmosphere was matched by a lethargic first half of football between two of the championship strugglers. The best chance for Rovers came for Taylor Gardner-Hickman latching on to Andri Gudjohnsen’s knockdown but the on loan midfielder couldn’t beat the Oxford ‘keeper Jamie Cumming. The visitors made the breakthrough in first half stoppage time, Rovers failing to deal with an Oxford free kick, the ball dropping to Ciaran Brown who slammed home from six yards - a goal that pretty much summed up the quality of the opening 45 minutes. Valerian Ismael had to change something and he did - a double change at the break saw Todd Cantwell and Dion De Neve replace Taylor Gardner-Hickman and George Pratt. Rovers were much brighter and should’ve levelled early in the second hal...

 Rover's Mentality Issue A damning statistic came to light last week after Rovers were pegged back to 1-1 in stoppage time for the second time in 3 days. Since a 90+8 minute winner from Adam Armstrong against Rotherham in December 2020, Rovers have only scored 4 goals in injury time, all of them being equalisers. In the same time period they have conceded 17. Why? We like to think of the term "swings and roundabouts" in football, that these things will balance themselves out over the course of a season. Evidently not in Rovers' case. Surely this isn't just an unfortunate coincidence? No, it goes much deeper than that. Naivety, a lack of experience, a lack of leadership and a lack of accountability at all levels of the football club. This is not just a problem that has arisen in the last few years, this goes back more than a decade. Let's go back to 2017- a March affair at home to Preston- Rovers battled their way to a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Elliott Benn...