Unless my memory is on the wane I distinctly remember Mowbray playing Gallagher in his 'wide striker' role. His tactic was banging long diagonals from left to right for Gallagher to win headers and knock the ball across invariably against a full back who he dominated aerially. If he were to come I envisage Mowbray using him like he uses Brereton not as a Graham replacement.

It's strange how we see things as I thought Graham was decent today. He held the ball up well and some decent lay offs. From their set pieces he was our best defender too. I didn't feel that we sat back too much neither. For most of the second half we were on the front foot. Middlesbrough's only real threat was balls over the top and set pieces in my opinion.

If you factor in that Dack was running at speed and the shirt pull denied him a couple of yards intra clear sending off. Thankfully the assistant read it correctly but the delay in the incident and the referee actually blowing gave me the impression nothing was going to be given.

A good point in isolation but the way the game panned out I felt slightly disappointed not to win. For long periods I thought we kept the ball as well as we have done for a while albeit against ten men and a manager content to let us have plenty of the ball. I thought there were some good individual performances and tactically Mowbray did well. I was disappointed with Armstrong though and I thought his body language was poor. He needs leaving out of the squad altogether for a while to change what looks to me like a questionable attitude. I just heard the Middlesbrough managers opinion on the Besic sending off where he felt that Randolph would have got to the ball first therefore it couldn't have been an obvious goalscoring opportunity. It's as clear a sending off as you are likely to see. The only debate amongst us was if it would be given as the myopic referee didn't appear to see it (God knows how) and he was bailed out by his assistant.

It's annoying when the likes of Klopp moans about another teams tackling because a player gets hurt. The game is going sterile enough without him trying to get excellent tackles (as Mee's was) done away with. It wasn't the tackle which hurt him in my book, it Gomez clattering into the advertising hoardings. What will Klopp want then, no advertising around the pitch. I don't like Dyche but the points he raises about cheating and lack of physicality are true.

It sounds like Mowbray isn't too bothered about Palmer going back, a fact borne out of the number of starts he has given him. He is more of a squad player so he would need to be replaced to keep the number of squad players up. In fairness I think the majority of fans would agree with that. Reed on the other hand would be a huge loss.

I genuinely believe that getting promoted from the Third Division was enough for some fans to forgive them. What about local businesses who saw a big drop in match day takings and the staff at Ewood who were made redundant or given reduced hours all due to the owners absolute incompetence. Their rap sheet is huge, it's a big no from me to ever see them at Ewood again

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/nov/19/venkys-completes-takeover-blackburn-rovers For me in this instance time will never heal. She said "we will absolutely respect the Jack Walker legacy". They might as well have melted his statue and sold it scrap.

If it was Cat B then they are charging £5 more than we did for an adult ticket.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/ticket-news-sheffield-united-a/ Can anybody remember if the game at Ewood was Cat A?

That is the maximum they can charge for an EPL game under the agreement from last season.

I really hope so Matty. Altitude sickness was rife last time we were there. They should call it the Cardiac End with all those stairs to climb.

I just can't understand anybody minimalising Grahams contribution yesterday. Even if he had not scored anybody who knows the game would have praised his performance which is exactly what a centre forward should do. He was the focal point of nearly every attack and his hold up play was exceptional. His determination, typified when he outpaced a Wednesday player late on is key to how we play and usually perform. If Brereton wants to improve he should be studying a recording of Grahams efforts and learning from it.

Did you honestly agree with the selection and think we would score four goals?

But that's how they see it Paul. I defy anybody to tell me when they saw the team sheet that they could said with confidence we would score four and play as well as we did. Wasn't it you who, after the Barnet cup match was massively critical of the team and if I remember correctly Mowbray. It happens. People have opinions but trying to take some high ground about their opinions if they are wrong does you no favours.

Humble pie time for me. I just looked at the team and really thought the malaise would continue as Downing, Conway, Smallwood and Evans wouldn't have been near my starting eleven but each of them put in a performance. The intensity we have lacked for several weeks was evident from the first minute and never really abated. Perhaps the criticism the players received recently has hurt them but no matter what we were doing what we do best namely working hard, closing down and playing with intensity. Most of our better performances I think have been against teams who try and play out from the back. We press high and keep them under pressure. The more physical teams who play more direct seem to cause us more problems. Dack was back to his best today with Reed looking hungry too. Graham played the number nine perfectly today. He was always involved and worked their defenders. His hat trick was the icing on the cake. Winning today was the most important thing but the manner of that was pleasing as we played to our strengths. With some really tough games in the next four weeks this should stand us in good stead.

Only three of Mowbrays signings in his starting eleven. That's progress for you.

And probably quicker ?

As far as I can remember Leeds have charged £39. From a fading memory I think I paid that in the last few seasons for a live TV match on a Thursday night. I genuinely don't see how they can charge almost double the amount we paid at West Bromwich recently. There needs to be some sort regulatory body to look at admission prices. The real irony though is that if Leeds get promoted they can't charge visiting fans more than£30. Edit: I've just seen that the senior threshold starts at 60 and I qualify for that but my point about the £39 stands.

I predict between 300 and 500 Rovers fans at this game. It's about time the EFL did something about fans being blatantly ripped off.

The whole red button farce needs an urgent review by the EFL. Whoever negotiated that deal (Harvey I suspect) should be sacked. How on earth can they pull the plug on the red button access for pubs and clubs half way through the season. I'm also pretty sure that Rovers advertised the game live in the Blues Bar on Wednesday. I don't agree with the red button coverage at all but to do what they have is a scandal.

If Lenihan isn't fit then it has to be Williams at centre back with Mulgrew. He was poor at Preston at left back and poor in a three at Wigan but the bottom line is he is far better than Downing at centre back.

If he goes in with that attitude then he won't last five minutes. Ultimately he will be judged on results but players just won't wear his Billy Big Bollocks style if he talks like that to them. I can see it ending in tears.

Team spirit will only get you so far. To push on we really have to have a few better players than we currently do. Mowbray has often talked about 'artists and soldiers' but recently we have had neither.

Spot on, the buck stops with Mowbray. If this wretched form and performances continue then it will be him who pays the ultimate price. The players who he has protected and looked after will just carry on under another gaffer. If there are any murmurings or discontent amongst the players Mowbray needs to deal with it.