Blackburn Rovers travelled to the Potteries today in hope of continuing their fine away form. The travelling team were backed by 1876 fans who saw their team gain an important three points from an impressive 0-3 victory.
Stoke came into this game being 5 games unbeaten and looked to make it an impressive six, but could not create any clear opportunities against a well drilled Blackburn Rovers side.
The travelling side started quickly as Stoke summer transfer target Andrew Moran lifted the ball over the Stoke backline with striker Sammie Szmodics running onto the ball. Szmodics attempted to lob Stoke goalkeeper Jack Bonham, however, his audacious effort flew just wide of the goal. An early warning sign for Stoke.
Rovers were then rewarded for their fast start to the game as a corner was lofted in by the young Irishman Moran which was met by the high flying Scott Wharton, who thumped in a header off the post to make it 1-0 in the fourth minute.
Stoke tried to instantly find a way to comeback as midfielder Daniel Johnson found himself in a threatening shooting position inside the box, however the chance was put to waste as Johnson’s effort is saved well by the Rover’s keeper. The game then went stale for twenty five minutes as neither side found ways of breaking each other down or finding any creative outlets. The teams went inside at half time with it being 0-1 after a lengthy stoppage time period due to an early concussion substitution for Blackburn Rovers as goalscorer Scott Wharton suffered a head injury.
The second half showed a similar story to the first half as Stoke were the architects to their own downfall as they dominated possession but could not create anything that could threaten the Blackburn goal. This created a large sense of frustration and tension with the home crowd who were getting fed up of Stoke playing the ball backwards to maintain ball retention, rather than taking risks that could’ve resulted in goals. This frustration was echoed when Dwight Gayle was substituted in the fifty ninth minute and the fans first reaction was to cheer rather than clap the player off.
Matters went from bad to worse for Stoke in the closing stages of the game as Jack Bonham palmed a shot into the feet of Moran who effortlessly tapped in for 0-2 and moments after Sammie Szmodics took the ball round Bonham to make it three and put the depressing cherry on a dismal Stoke City cake.
Alex Neil had his say on Stoke’s frustrating afternoon:
Neil thought the scoreline didn’t reflect the flow of the match but added: “I think we didn’t defend moments well enough. That summarises the game. When called upon for them to defend, they were strong and denied what could have been good opportunities for us. I thought at times we didn’t do that well enough.”
“Nobody really analyses the game how I’m going to do. They’ll just look at the scoreline. As a fan you come to watch the team win, you come to see it create chances and score goals. We didn’t do enough of that so it’s a sore one. I think there have been a lot of good things in the last five games and you don’t want, especially at home, to send fans home frustrated, disappointed, angry, upset but ultimately that will be the case.”
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