Blackburn Rovers travel to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
Tony Mowbray’s side were given a scare in their first round tie, falling behind to Doncaster Rovers before goals from Joe Rankin-Costello and Adam Armstrong ensured progression to the next stage of the competition.
Their comeback was rewarded with a tie against Premier League opposition, and a difficult encounter in that with Steve Bruce’s side starting the season strongly following an opening day victory over West Ham. The winner of this second round clash will fancy their chances in the third round given that they will face League Two opposition, where a tie against one of Morecambe or Oldham Athletic awaits.
Tyrhys Dolan has been handed his first senior start as he operates in an attacking three alongside Ben Brereton and Joe Rankin-Costello, with Adam Armstrong dropping to the bench.
A clash of heads between Travis and Longstaff sees the Newcastle midfielder go in the book.
Surely Travis has to slot in if Bell and Nyambe are so high up. Lenihan and Williams are exposed every single time.
Ryan Fraser bends his run perfectly and dispatches past Kaminski. A lesson on how to take your chances.
Almiron does well to escape Nyambe, surges into the penalty area and releases it to Fraser while being brought down in the process. Small claims for a penalty but the ball is cleared by Holtby.
Brereton runs with the ball from deep but lacks any conviction in the final third to make the most of a promising area. Rovers need to capitalise on those breakaways.
Set piece delivered by Ritchie is glanced wide by Krafth. Newcastle are growing into this one, pushing higher up.
Lenihan lofts a high ball out of play, Steve Bruce tries to control but the touch just isn’t there.
Rankin-Costello has space to enter and he carries the ball forward, but drags his shot wide. Will have felt he could have done better, there.
Manquillo’s having trouble on this left side trying to contain Dolan. Can’t get near him when he’s on the ball.
Should be 1-0! Neat one-two between Dolan and Nyambe allows the latter to cross low, Holtby steps up but puts it just wide of the post.
Almiron dinks a lofted pass over the Rovers defence and Fraser chases, but Williams is equal to it.
Early stages so far but you’d be forgiven for thinking #Rovers were the home side given how much possession they’ve had – 83%, to be precise. Kaminski very vocal so far.
Very vocal, very high up. A sweeper keeper, is the definition to that. Good to hear him barking out orders though.
Here come the Rovers team, sporting their red and blue away strip. It’s growing on me.
On the transfer front, Mowbray spoke last week of how he hoped once one signs, others will follow.
Me and Rich Sharpe both sat here cussing at the timing of the signing. You’d forget there was a game on!
I’d like to welcome Tony Mowbray, his players and staff this evening. I’m a big admirer of Tony, having known him over the years, and his teams always play a certain way.
They tend to be entertaining and difficult to play against, so it should be a good game of football tonight.
“I think Tony Mowbray does give kids a chance if they show they are capable, so there are definitely opportunities at Blackburn Rovers. I found out that I was getting something with Blackburn in June so it was around May time I found out from Preston. It was a couple weeks after – me and my family were over the moon. We felt Blackburn was the best move for me.
“I was so confident in myself and believed I would go on to achieve good things, so when Rovers came in I was buzzing but I also thought ‘this is what I do’. As a good player you should have big clubs like Blackburn recognising you.”
As per earlier reports, the deal is very much back on to bring Daniel Ayala to Ewood Park.
One to watch from that 11 is Daniel Barlaser. Enjoyed loan spells at Accrington and Rotherham, a local boy who is beginning to make a name for himself at St James’.
That kid must be absolutely buzzing. He leads the line on his first start for Rovers at St James’ Park. Armstrong drops to the bench as a result.
