I seem to recall one of those public information adverts from the 70's with the strapline SPEED DECEIVES. Well as the Rovers keep proving this season it certainly does! Usually of late we have been turning defence into attack and scoring box to box goals in 10 or 11 seconds but today the 'speed' was provided courtesy of a bit of quick thinking by Lewis Holtby. After being awarded a dropped ball in a deep wide position he spotted an opening and flighted a quickly taken cross to the back post for big Sam Gallagher to meet and head square across the 6 yard line to Adam Armstrong for him to head home for the winning goal with just 5 minutes of normal time left. No matter that the ball was still moving as Holtby struck the ball, the plain facts are that Luton for once were caught ball watching and punished for it. tbqh it was poetic justice for Potts pretending that a strike from the ball had floored him a minute earlier in an effort to fool the Ref into stopping play and deploying the dark arts to run the clock down.
Anyway the fact remains though that our normal measured passing play isn't as responsible for getting the results as is our quick thinking and lightning attacks out of defence. Brian Clough in praise of Glenn Hoddle said he was the best midfielder in England not because he was quick but because his quick thinking gave him the 1st yard in any situation.
This was never going to be an easy match on a less than perfect surface against a team not known for intricate passing play. Furthermore Luton were on the way to becoming one of our bogey teams by virtue of the fact that we haven't beaten them since they were promoted at the start of last season. Luton have had some damned good results of late against some good teams and if they had beaten us this afternoon it would have seen them alongside us in the Championship table and level on 36 points. To their credit the Rovers came out of the blocks with a purpose and spurned enough chances in the first 20 minutes to have gone in 3-0 up at HT. The most glaring was Adam Armstrong finding himself in a 1 on 1 with Sluga in the Luton goal and taking a less than perfect touch which allowed a defender to get a foot in front of his shot and deflect it for a corner. Early in the match and a chance that he would normally finish off with relative ease. The match was being played out at a high tempo and
to their credit as teams usually do when they have been let off the hook Luton came back and played a big part in keeping the defence and Thomas Kaminsky on their toes.
Second half began not as frenetic as the first half had been and saw Luton becoming an increasing threat. Cue Tony Mowbray making his usual 60 minute substitution, the only thing that wasn't usual was that he made 4 at the same time! On came Dolan, Dack, Gallagher and Holtby and off trooped Elliot, Rothwell, Brereton and Downing. Dack and Gallagher initially made little difference to proceedings, Holtby quickly made himself known whilst Dolan was quite simply explosive on the left wing. Ten minutes after Dolan came on Luton's Nathan Jones substituted right back Pierson and replaced him with Cranie. I don't believe this was a tactical substitution but more an act of mercy! In truth Dolan didn't create or destroy per sae, he just changed the 'emphasis' of the match. He could have scored, but might have been better advised making a couple of backheels to find Armstrong clear on goal initially and then Douglas in the same position. Just as 0-0 was looking inevitable the rovers scored the winner without giving the watching ifollowers any warning whatsoever. I dare say we armchair viewers were caught as cold as Luton's defence by Holtby's quick thinking.... I know I was!
Kaminsky... 7 Good game and never put a foot (or hand) wrong.
Nyambe ... 7 Strong running up and down the right wing and fairly solid defending given that he was getting little help in defence from Elliott.
Lenihan... 7 Solid at the back. Made a few mistakes in distribution but that will surprise no one. On the down side took the ball off Gallagher's by a silly handball from a corner when Gallagher was preparing to nod the ball back across goal. Lucky to escape a booking for that imo.
Branthwaite... 7 Declared MoM by the ifollow commentators and perhaps deserved it. This lad is only 18 but what a difference he has made to our goals against column! I suspect we are privileged to be watching a future England star in the making. Not the range of silky passing that we had last season from Tosin Adaribioyo but definitely stronger defending.
Douglas... 7 Continuing to improve from the poor start that he made at first.
Elliot... 4 Poor match going forward and a dreadful one in helping his right back out. He needs to track back much more effectively. At the moment it's difficult to suggest that he is worth his place in front of either Gallagher or Dolan.
Travis... 5 Battled manfully but faded badly as the match went on. Was still a little late in the tackle and made some awful passes. Perhaps he should have been the one to make way for Holtby. Picked up a cheap booking. No way is Trav back to his best.
Downing... 6 Not really influential in the match but did enough not to let himself down.
Rothwell... 6 Played a decent part in midfield but without his trademark runs carrying the ball at speed through the middle.
Brereton.... 5 Another decidedly average performance from BB. Some more critical types might say that is better than he has shown in the two years to date.
Armstrong... 7 Fluffed his lines when one on one with the keeper after 5 minutes, blazed a couple over by going for power over accuracy but as usual was in the right place at the right time to head home the winner.
Subs...
Dack (Elliot 61mins) 5 Didn't make much impression on the proceedings.
Gallagher (Brereton 61 mins) 6 Put himself around a little more than BB had and like Armstrong was alert enough to see the opportunity from Holtby's cross and provide a perfect assist for Arma to head home.
Holtby (Downing 61 mins) 7 Did provide more of a presence than Downing had and of course created the goal. Just make sure the ball is stationary next time Lewis.... you'll no doubt be assessed on Quest tonight and the Refs will be watching you next time.
Edit... I got this wrong it was a dropped ball not a free kick. Teach me to be posting on here whilst the match is in play. As you were Lewis.
Dolan (Rothwell 61 mins) 7 As I said earlier his introduction put us a little more onto the front foot and heralded an improvement in our goal threat.
Tony Mowbray.... 7 Sent out a team who were impatient for the three points and but for a little wayward finishing would have had the game sewn up by HT. Bold move to make 4 subs all at once as some performances dipped ......but it worked! Took his team to 8th position after 3 wins and a draw in the last 4 after a dreadful December saw us lose ground.
Referee Jeremy Simpson 7 Solid enough performance overall although I expect Jonesy will currently be whingeing about it. Odd how Luton accepted the goal initially until someone must have organised the troops into making their protests more vehement. I've not given Mr Simpson very good marks in the past but today I thought he had a decent enough match
Anyway the fact remains though that our normal measured passing play isn't as responsible for getting the results as is our quick thinking and lightning attacks out of defence. Brian Clough in praise of Glenn Hoddle said he was the best midfielder in England not because he was quick but because his quick thinking gave him the 1st yard in any situation.
This was never going to be an easy match on a less than perfect surface against a team not known for intricate passing play. Furthermore Luton were on the way to becoming one of our bogey teams by virtue of the fact that we haven't beaten them since they were promoted at the start of last season. Luton have had some damned good results of late against some good teams and if they had beaten us this afternoon it would have seen them alongside us in the Championship table and level on 36 points. To their credit the Rovers came out of the blocks with a purpose and spurned enough chances in the first 20 minutes to have gone in 3-0 up at HT. The most glaring was Adam Armstrong finding himself in a 1 on 1 with Sluga in the Luton goal and taking a less than perfect touch which allowed a defender to get a foot in front of his shot and deflect it for a corner. Early in the match and a chance that he would normally finish off with relative ease. The match was being played out at a high tempo and
to their credit as teams usually do when they have been let off the hook Luton came back and played a big part in keeping the defence and Thomas Kaminsky on their toes.
Second half began not as frenetic as the first half had been and saw Luton becoming an increasing threat. Cue Tony Mowbray making his usual 60 minute substitution, the only thing that wasn't usual was that he made 4 at the same time! On came Dolan, Dack, Gallagher and Holtby and off trooped Elliot, Rothwell, Brereton and Downing. Dack and Gallagher initially made little difference to proceedings, Holtby quickly made himself known whilst Dolan was quite simply explosive on the left wing. Ten minutes after Dolan came on Luton's Nathan Jones substituted right back Pierson and replaced him with Cranie. I don't believe this was a tactical substitution but more an act of mercy! In truth Dolan didn't create or destroy per sae, he just changed the 'emphasis' of the match. He could have scored, but might have been better advised making a couple of backheels to find Armstrong clear on goal initially and then Douglas in the same position. Just as 0-0 was looking inevitable the rovers scored the winner without giving the watching ifollowers any warning whatsoever. I dare say we armchair viewers were caught as cold as Luton's defence by Holtby's quick thinking.... I know I was!
Kaminsky... 7 Good game and never put a foot (or hand) wrong.
Nyambe ... 7 Strong running up and down the right wing and fairly solid defending given that he was getting little help in defence from Elliott.
Lenihan... 7 Solid at the back. Made a few mistakes in distribution but that will surprise no one. On the down side took the ball off Gallagher's by a silly handball from a corner when Gallagher was preparing to nod the ball back across goal. Lucky to escape a booking for that imo.
Branthwaite... 7 Declared MoM by the ifollow commentators and perhaps deserved it. This lad is only 18 but what a difference he has made to our goals against column! I suspect we are privileged to be watching a future England star in the making. Not the range of silky passing that we had last season from Tosin Adaribioyo but definitely stronger defending.
Douglas... 7 Continuing to improve from the poor start that he made at first.
Elliot... 4 Poor match going forward and a dreadful one in helping his right back out. He needs to track back much more effectively. At the moment it's difficult to suggest that he is worth his place in front of either Gallagher or Dolan.
Travis... 5 Battled manfully but faded badly as the match went on. Was still a little late in the tackle and made some awful passes. Perhaps he should have been the one to make way for Holtby. Picked up a cheap booking. No way is Trav back to his best.
Downing... 6 Not really influential in the match but did enough not to let himself down.
Rothwell... 6 Played a decent part in midfield but without his trademark runs carrying the ball at speed through the middle.
Brereton.... 5 Another decidedly average performance from BB. Some more critical types might say that is better than he has shown in the two years to date.
Armstrong... 7 Fluffed his lines when one on one with the keeper after 5 minutes, blazed a couple over by going for power over accuracy but as usual was in the right place at the right time to head home the winner.
Subs...
Dack (Elliot 61mins) 5 Didn't make much impression on the proceedings.
Gallagher (Brereton 61 mins) 6 Put himself around a little more than BB had and like Armstrong was alert enough to see the opportunity from Holtby's cross and provide a perfect assist for Arma to head home.
Holtby (Downing 61 mins) 7 Did provide more of a presence than Downing had and of course created the goal. Just make sure the ball is stationary next time Lewis.... you'll no doubt be assessed on Quest tonight and the Refs will be watching you next time.
Edit... I got this wrong it was a dropped ball not a free kick.
Teach me to be posting on here whilst the match is in play. As you were Lewis.Dolan (Rothwell 61 mins) 7 As I said earlier his introduction put us a little more onto the front foot and heralded an improvement in our goal threat.
Tony Mowbray.... 7 Sent out a team who were impatient for the three points and but for a little wayward finishing would have had the game sewn up by HT. Bold move to make 4 subs all at once as some performances dipped ......but it worked! Took his team to 8th position after 3 wins and a draw in the last 4 after a dreadful December saw us lose ground.
Referee Jeremy Simpson 7 Solid enough performance overall although I expect Jonesy will currently be whingeing about it. Odd how Luton accepted the goal initially until someone must have organised the troops into making their protests more vehement. I've not given Mr Simpson very good marks in the past but today I thought he had a decent enough match
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