Settled and solid Blackburn Rovers creep into Championship top six

The repeated message from within the dressing room is the togetherness on display, helped by the small squad they are carrying. It's coming through loud and clear on a matchday.

It seems there is something of a siege mentality, and while the shortage of numbers may well come to be their downfall should the unavailability blight them as it has in recent seasons, for now, it’s paying dividends.

A settled backline has seen Thomas Kaminski, Darragh Lenihan, Daniel Ayala and Harry Pickering start every game, and with it, an understanding that hasn’t been afforded to a Rovers defence for so much.

At this stand, the team pretty much picks itself, with only eight changes made across the eight games so far, with other ever-presents including Lewis Travis, Joe Rothwell and Ben Brereton.

The contrast to last season, when style over substance, is like night and day for what we’ve seen from Rovers so far. For so long they were a side whose underlying numbers were far more promising than their results would suggest. On the flip side, this season they have been outperforming the statistics.

That has allowed them to creep, very much under the radar, into the Championship’s top six. They have done so with very minimal fuss or headlines, with every point so far gratefully received, and claimed via no shortage of hard work.

Yet there was a wry smile from manager Tony Mowbray when the current league position of sixth, and the prospect of a play-off push this season, was put to him by the national media in the wake of this draw.

This side feels very much of the ‘not getting carried away’ and ‘hard work lies ahead’ viewpoint than it does the carried away.

As an attacking force, there is so much more that can be produced, the Barnsley stalemate a case of always being one pass away from breaking clear, only to be let down by a lack of care.

Rovers have been clinical, goals at Millwall and Middlesbrough, and in the Luton draw, coming with their first attempts on target, and had Brereton taken his big moment when played clean through in the final 20 minutes, we could have added Barnsley to that statistic.

Leighton Clarkson had a decent sight of goal in the closing seconds, but like Brereton shot too close to Brad Collins, the sole two efforts on target across the 90 minutes, yet two strong chances.

While Rovers struggled to function as an attacking force, defensively they had an organised look about them. Ryan Nyambe remains one of the best one-v-one defenders in the division, while Pickering has continued to enjoy a no frills start to life at left back.

Having claimed an assist and goal respectively in the Luton draw, there were clear instructions for the pair to not over-commit, and with it Rovers often played very narrow as their full backs stayed largely on the defensive side of the halfway line to counter Barnsley’s threat on the break.

John Buckley offered cover to Pickering by operating in an unusual left-sided midfield role, while Ayala and Lenihan stood tall to Barnsley’s aerial threat for the most part.

Having waited 16 matches for a clean sheet, a second arriving in the space of four days isn’t to be sniffed at.

When the defence ranks were breached, as in the 22nd minute when Clarke Oduor danced his way past two tackles and into the box, there was Kaminski to provide the last line, saving with his feet.

He was equal to a Michal Helik header in the second half, the one stroke of fortune being that another header from the Polish international defender evaded the far post, and the stretching Victor Adeboyejo.

Rovers now look to have a foundation from which to build, and equally, this was the first time in eight matches in which they have failed to score.

Mowbray was right to illustrate that Rovers did get it spot on defensively, whether that came at expense of their attacking threat, the manager accepted that was up for debate.

For all the benefits of a small squad, it is becoming clear Rovers are a striker light, and it won’t be the last we hear of the failure to secure an Adam Armstrong replacement. 

As an attacking force everything looked a little hurried, too eager to get the ball forward, Ian Poveda in particular drifting out of the game at an alarming rate, Brereton eager to see the return of Sam Gallagher to help take some of the physical strain away from him, while Dolan had moments, but sadly too few.

With the substitutes having changed the game against Hull City, the hope was that the Rovers bench would do so again, and with Poveda back in from the start, and Tayo Edun available again, the resources available to Mowbray are getting stronger.

Khadra and Clarkson were the first two to arrive, and would have linked up for the winner had the Liverpool loanee found a way beyond Collins with his shot, while the Brighton winger came up with a moment of quality to slide in Brereton for Rovers’ best opening of the match.

There was something of a frantic end, though much of that was brought about by both side’s inability to keep hold of the ball for any length of time. There were counter-attacks to counter-attacks, and while that does seem a good way for Rovers to operate with the options available, they do need to pick the right pass more often than they did here.

The positive was undoubtedly an unbeaten start since the international break, and in their opening four away games, while one defeat in eight represents a more than satisfactory start.

The league table too makes positive reading, not that anyone will get carried away, we’ve been here too many times before. But there is a reassurance being offered by this side that they won’t roll over easily.

How settled and solid the side remains will undoubtedly come down to fitness of those who have made their spots in this side their own.