Devon Rover

Now I've got Steve Kean in my head. This is getting worse by the minute!

I do agree with you on all of this. But I wouldn't take a play-off spot offered now because, right now, we have worked ourselves into a position where we should be aiming even higher and there is little reason why we shouldn't. Top 2 is possible and achievable - although I think we need 3 signings to provide more depth. If we end up just missing out, and finish in the play-offs, I agree that would still be a very good season, above all expectations pre-season. But it is the hope (rather than total belief) of something even greater that I'm clinging onto, for now... Exciting/terrifying!

Easy tiger! 😉 PS I hope you don't mind that I read that as being delivered in the voice of that Norwegian commentator in '81. "Jethro, The Wurzels, Marcus Trescothick: Your cider boys took a hell of a beating!"

Reads like if you asked my managers to give a reference for me. Glowing.

Great post, Davey, and I'm really pleased to hear about the swift help - and that your dad seems ok and raring to go! Thank you for sharing the update as there was clearly a lot of concern at the ground and watching on TV. Not nice for an onlooker, so it must have been really awful at the time for you and those close to you, in every sense. Very best wishes to your dad and I hope you are both back at Ewood very soon. From a fellow 'stay on as long after full time as you can' Rover.

Leaving aside for a moment some of my negative feelings about him over recent years; full credit to Mowbray for what he is doing this year. Having just seen his post match interview, and watched him during games, he is a completely different character to the one we've seen in the previous few years. Mojo in place and coming across as an ambassador for our club. Similarly, what a brilliant, honest speaker Wilder is.

Agree with other comments - Butterworth doesn't look up for, or to, this.

I obviously don't condone any form of violence. But... Neil Taylor's face just seems to shout "punch me". 😉

Midfield run out of steam here and Khadra is off form. We are struggling

A couple of hours ago I was looking forward to this as a tough test that we might just about come through and possibly get 3 points. Johnson in for Rothwell is just one blow too many and I'd be happy with a point now. Line up looks really poor, as does the squad depth.

Do we know what his favoured position is? I haven't seen much of him but I genuinely can't tell what position/role he might pin down in the team at this level (or, whisper it, higher). I recognise he has had a lot of injuries and disruption to his career, which is a big shame, but he doesn't look a player - at least not at the moment. Pre-injuries, what position did he look best in? I thought it was a more attacking midfielder type??

Well that's that, then.

I'm worried about chances of playoffs now, never mind automatic. Really concerning selection and 'performance'. The referee has beaten us but, for me, Hull have played the better game, anyway. Not great for confidence.

I didn't single him out. I named him along with others as very poor performers. And the list wasn't exclusive. So definitely no singling! Buckley made a couple of good passes. That doesn't stop his overall performance being, in my opinion, fairly rubbish. Because, as you say, he has been played out of position.

Jesus. That was awful. Blatant penalty aside, we've been abysmal. Rothwell, Buckley, Gallagher, Rankin-Costello all rubbish so far. JRC clearly not up to this and it is a bad call by Mowbray to have picked him there against Lewis-Potter, as is the attack line which looks all wrong. Does the club get to claim Gallagher's wage back for not remotely doing his job? We'd may as well be down to 10 men again. How does this get better second half? I just don't see it.

Agreed. And I suspect this is a "handover" from BBD to Gallagher for the next couple. Gallagher really needs a goal here, if that is the plan.

This is really difficult to predict. Our line-up could be anything, as key first team players rightly get a rest/protection from the standard Wigan shithousery. I suspect TM will be dusting off the old Tombola for a right good go, for old time's sake. From the above suggested line ups, I'd personally be surprised to see Kaminski or Rothwell out there. I'd guess that Pears, Nyambe, Ayala, Edun, Johnson, Butterworth, Davenport, Dolan, Gallagher are all very likely to start (tombola-allowing). JRC off the bench? With the likely scale of changes, I'm not confident at all, but who knows. And do we really care?! For me, I'm about 24 hours away from my usual 'tipping point' from "I don't give a monkeys about the FA Cup", to "It's the FA Cup, of course I care: Can't wait !"

😂👏

I travelled from the South West for this one, for the second time in two months, having not been up in my first 30 years of being a fan. Yep, I’ve definitely caught the bug; and not the Greek-letter one. I felt even more excitement than I did during my first trip, I’m not sure if this was driven by the run we are on, the increasing feeling of belief, survival of the omnipresent threat of game postponement due to Covid, or weather, or of just being alive and here, 200+ miles from home on my own little (42-year-old child’s) adventure. I think I’m experiencing this even more strongly in my middle age and after so long of not being able to make the trip, or of feeling emotions quite right due to ill health. It means more now because of the knowledge of how fleeting sporting success (and health/life) can be and how close failure lurks, really (league one, anyone?) I loved the atmosphere on the day. The game itself was less great; the impact of the monumental deluge that seemed to follow me up the M6 was huge, as was the pitch drainage system seeming to be based on sponsorship by “Plenty” kitchen roll. Ultimately it might be testament to the surreal times we find ourselves in that a 0-0 draw felt to me like a fairly good result and also a totally worthwhile reason for my 470-mile round trip; just to look at the updated league table and see “Blackburn Rovers” in the top 2 of the Championship, and then to drive back out on Bolton Road and have my attention caught by a flag of St George flying high alongside the Chilean flag. These are not normal times. But, from a Rovers perspective, they are pretty damn good times. Favourite moments of game: Defensive organisation, Kaminski save when defence breached, Travis glimpses of previous impact, Mowbray fuming at the terrible ref, an elderly fan beside me offering the best/worst mispronunciation of a name I have heard in a long while by passionately encouraging Reda: “Go on, Kedgeree”. Least favourite moments: Ground conditions minimising the chance to enjoy Brereton, Khadra, Buckley & Rothwell running with the ball and dictating the play. Next time… Most awkward moment: A bit stressed by the Covid pass check and the partially dissolved ticket in my pocket, accidentally calling a female turnstile steward ‘mate’, and then worrying, perhaps disproportionately, that I had committed a huge social faux pas and weighing up whether to calmly continue with the ‘equality’ approach by calling her ‘geezer’, or to over-compensate with ‘madam’. PS Thank you, brfcs.com, for the help sourcing me a ticket for this one and getting me back to Ewood sooner than I had planned.

Classy. Good lad, I hope he becomes top class.

Really not sure about our strategy in that half. Long ball into box not working at all. Seemed to run out of ideas a bit. And ref is working hard to kill the game.

😄 excellent! You can take the boy out of the Westcountry....

Good crowd in (it seems) and queues for tickets but I can't help working about the pitch here....

Add Big Sam Gallagher into that offer and we can surely all look forward to a Brereton & Mitrovic front line?!

I'd go along with the last few posts. The key thing, if at all possible, is not to sell anyone in this window. Not only would it weaken the team significantly, of itself, it would also quite possibly be a big blow to the confidence of the rest of the team. I agree with @RoverDom that a good right back is needed to provide cover. And with @Paul Mani that another goal scoring striker will be very handy for the last 20-odd games. But the only other signings I would really want to see (and more so than the RB & Striker cover) is contract extensions for Rothwell, Nyambe and Brereton - and a cautious return to action for Dack. Conversely to the above, I suspect any of this would bring a further lift to a team already high on confidence.