Carlisle United 1 Blackburn Rovers 5: TALKING POINTS

A SHORTAGE OF SUPERLATIVES

It is now nine goals and seven assists in his last 14 Rovers matches for Bradley Dack and you are starting to run out of superlatives to describe him.

He scored his 20th and 21st goals in Rovers colours and added to his growing number of assists with two superb passes for Adam Armstrong.

His understanding with Danny Graham was rightly lauded throughout last season, his relationship with Adam Armstrong should he get the nod in the central striking role could well be a mouthwatering prospect.

Twice he pierced the Carlisle backline with precise passes to find excellent Armstrong runs, with the forward applying the necessary finish.

It will have come as a surprise to many that Dack started the game. This was his first league cup showing in a Rovers shirt.

But this is someone who loves to play football, and the sight of him chasing down the Carlisle defence, not giving them a moments peace in the closing stages, summed up his performance.

The only disappointment, try as he might, was he couldn’t find a way to claim a first hat-trick of his career.

ROTHWELL’S ROLE

Speaking before the Carlisle cup tie, Joe Rothwell stopped short of the ‘I’ll play anywhere to be in the team’ line to indicate his favoured role was in the ‘number 8’ position.

And he was given the chance to shine in the deeper central role alongside Lewis Travis.

There was an enthusiasm to get on the ball and his passing was slick. Time and again Rovers broke through the Carlisle midfield with incisive passing from deep.

We didn’t see many of the driving runs with the ball he showcased on his league debut against Millwall off the bench, but this time it was technical ability and range of passing which caught the eye.

Rovers were more open that we are accustomed to seeing them with Rothwell sitting deeper, and away from home in the Championship, stepping away from a duo of Smallwood and Evans would be a bold move from Mowbray.

But at home, or indeed chasing a game, Rothwell operating from that deeper position provides an extra attacking threat.

STRONG SELECTION

Tony Mowbray has a habit of naming strong sides in the cup competitions.

So we shouldn’t really be surprised that it was just four changes from the side that drew with Millwall four days earlier.

And even with four league games in the next 18 days, and now a second round cup tie on August 28, Mowbray included the likes of Mulgrew, Lenihan, Dack and Armstrong.

He rightly pointed out that players should have no problems with their fitness in this early stage of the season and the boss hopes this will give them confidence to take in to Saturday’s trip to Hull City.

The plan was ‘to try and blow Carlisle away’ and twice scoring two goals in six minutes in the first half saw the game won by half-time.

Contrast that by the struggles of Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough and Millwall in edging through on penalties, Bristol City losing to League One Plymouth and West Brom only seeing off Luton by a goal.

Rovers were keen to get the job done, and they did it in dominant fashion.