ROVERS 1

(Dack, 76)

ASTON VILLA 1

(Hourihane, 90)

Rovers were denied at the death as an injury time goal denied them all three points against Aston Villa at Ewood Park in a 1-1 draw.

Bradley Dack looked to have marked his 50th Rovers appearance, and his return to the team after a month out, with the winning goal after putting Rovers ahead with 14 minutes to play.

It was Dack’s fifth of the season in just his fifth appearance having not played since scoring the only goal of the game in a win at Hull City on August 18.

He should have scored in the first half, only to see a header wrongly disallowed for offside, but there was a late sting as Hourihane bent a hotly contested free-kick over the wall and in to the corner.

Both sides came in to the game after the international break on the back of 4-1 defeats at Bristol City and Sheffield United respectively.

It was the visitors who started the brighter, playing on the front foot with a four pronged attack playing behind Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham who was making his first start of the season, though a couple of early crosses aimed in his direction came to nothing.

Bradley Dack was back in the Rovers starting line-up for the first time in a month, but it was the central defensive pairing who combined for the first chance of the match.
Good play from Adam Armstrong had won a corner which although was cleared, was put back in by Mulgrew after some neatwork footwork and met by Darragh Lenihan whose header was saved on the line by the feet of ‘keeper Orjan Nyland.

Lenihan was beginning to enjoy some joy from set pieces, as after John McGinn fouled Ryan Nyambe to earn the Villa man a yellow card, Dack swung in a delivery from which the Irishman nodded over under pressure.

Rovers were beginning to press Villa back after their early dominance and as the game ticked beyond the quarter mark the hosts were enjoying their best period of the game.

That would have brought a goal were it not for the offside flag. Dack got across his man to meet a Mulgrew inswinging free-kick and his header beat Nyland, but the linesman chalked it off for offside, despite replays suggesting otherwise.

That was the first of two contentious decisions in a matter of minutes which left both sets of players aggrieved.

The game was really hotting up when a Lenihan mistake allowed McGinn a free run at goal. The Rovers man, and Richie Smallwood both tried to get back, with McGinn going down feeling a touch from Smallwood , but neither a penalty, or a second yellow card for diving, was awarded. Replays this time suggested Rovers may well have got away with one.

What it did do was add an extra edge to proceedings as the atmosphere also began to ramp up.

Abraham had been starved of service but showed good movement to pull off the shoulder of Mulgrew, but McGinn’s chipped ball to the back post could only find him on the stretch as David Raya was able to gather under his crossbar.

That was his first save of the match, with opposite number Nyland having been the busier. But he was equal to a speculative low Mulgrew free-kick from all 30 yards, with Raya resting easy at the other end when McGinn flashed a shot well wide of the target.

A watchable game reached half-time all square and both feeling a sense of injustice, but knowing they could offer more in their respective final thirds.

There were no changes from either boss at the break, with both still looking for dominance in a fiercely competitive game which saw Corry Evans and Lenihan enter the book in the first six minutes of the second half.

Lenihan’s booking came for a foul on Jack Grealish, but only after the referee played an advantage which saw Abraham shoot selfishly straight at Raya rather than play in Ahmed Elmohamady who was free on the right.

But was Raya would have had little chance with an Abraham header moments later, only for the Chelsea loanee to head wide of the near post from a right wing cross.

There was also danger as James Chester, under pressure, fired over from a Grealish corner as Mowbray contemplated a change.

That came in the 56th minute as Ben Brereton was sent on for his home debut, replacing Evans as Elliott Bennett moved centrally.

It didn’t take long for the new man to have an effect, taking down an Armstrong cross at the far post on his chest and although he couldn’t get a shot away on the turn, Smallwood could, forcing a fine block from Axel Tuanzebe.

It was an attacking change from Mowbray, who was gambling a little, with Rovers almost caught on the counter on the hour mark, only for McGinn to waste the opportunity with another long range effort which didn’t come close to testing Raya.

To add fresh legs in the middle of the park for the final quarter Rovers made a straight swap, as Harrison Reed came on for his Rovers debut in place of Smallwood.

Not the visitors seemed to be holding out for a 0-0 as Jonathan Kodjia was sent on for Albert Adomah as Villa went with a front two.

That almost had an immediate effect, as Abraham rolled Lenihan and used Kodjia to bounce the ball off, but the Chelsea should have done better when shooting wide unopposed from the edge of the box.

Danny Graham had been locked in a physical battle all afternoon and wasn’t getting much joy, particularly out of the referee.

He managed a shot on goal in the 69th minute, but backpeddling to meet a Nyambe cross, he could only head over.

It was livening up for the final 20 minutes, with Mile Jedinak taking a rare burst forward to sting the hands of Raya with a well-hit drive from 25 yards.

Mowbray then countered his earlier changes by replacing Adam Armstrong with Derrick Williams as Bell moved higher up the pitch on the left side.

Williams was in the thick of the action in the Villa box though when Rovers found a breakthrough with 14 minutes remaining.

First Mulgrew showed fleet of foot on the right to swing in a cross which Williams kept alive at the far post, teeing up Graham whose left foot shot was turned in by the in-step of Dack for his fifth of the season.

Villa quickly made a double change in a bid to get back in to it, but it was Rovers who threatened next. Dack’s low corner looked innocuous but reached the back post where Williams saw a well-hit half volley blocked.

While Rovers’ main efforts were on keeping Villa out, they were maintaining a threat at the other end. Mulgrew caught Nyland by surprise by going for goal with a 30-yard free-kick, with the keeper fortunate to see his fumble go wide of the target.

It was rather speculative when Abraham tried his luck as a bouncing ball fell at his feet from 25 yards in the dying seconds of the 90, with Raya comfortably gathering.

Reed had been in the thick of the action after coming, but would give away a free-kick which would prove costly in the third of five added minutes.

Substitute Conor Hourihane bent the ball over the Rovers wall and out of the reach of Raya as the ball nestled in the bottom corner.

That wasn’t to be the ned of the action though as Reed then a late chance to win it, only to fire the bouncing ball over the bar from the edge of the area after Bennett’s cross wasn’t dealt with.

It was a cruel end to the game for Rovers, who will view it as two points lost, but they have now gone a full year undefeated at Ewood Park.

Rovers: Raya, Nyambe, Mulgrew, Lenihan, Bell, Evans (Brereton, 58), Smallwood (Reed, 66), Bennett, Dack, Armstrong (Williams, 73), Graham

Subs: Leutwiler, Rothwell, Conway, Palmer

Aston Villa: Nyland, Hutton, Chester, Tuanzebe, Taylor, Jedinak (Hourihane, 76), Elmohamady (Bolasie, 76) Grealish, McGinn, Adomah (Kodjia, 69), Abraham

Subs: Moreira, Whelan, Bree, El Ghazi