Blackburn Rovers’ terrible defending gifts West Brom victory
More schoolboy play at the back was on show at The Hawthorns as Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side found themselves 3-0 down after 33 minutes.
Balls into the box continued to cause havoc as a long throw-in was somehow allowed to bounce in the six-yard box before it was headed in by Tom Fellows. Neither the defence nor Leopold Wahlstedt will look back on the opener with any fondness.
The second came on the half-hour mark as Brandon Thomas-Asante picked up Dom Hyam’s loose header and fired into the bottom corner. An excellent finish from the West Brom striker but more individual errors at the back.
Things got worse for the Rovers captain as he then turned into his own net. Alex Mowatt’s cross-cum-shot hit Wahlstedt and then the skipper before going in.
Having conceded two or more goals in 10 of their last 11 games, things looked bleak. They did at least rally early in the second half with Jake Garrett’s impressive run and strike reducing the arrears.
But any hope of an unlikely comeback was short-lived as Thomas-Asante got away from Hyam and hooked into the net. Yet again, Rovers did not win the first ball into the box and suffered for it.
Rovers are in free fall right now and if they continue to give up this sheer volume of goals, they will not collect many more points. It’s now one win in nine league outings with a critical run of fixtures at Ewood Park coming up.
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Illness robbed Tomasson of his top scorer with Sam Szmodics forced to sit out the game after suffering throughout the week. Harry Pickering also dropped out overnight after suffering the same fate.
That led to a reshuffle with Callum Brittain moving to left-back and Jake Garrett getting the nod in midfield. Scott Wharton also returned to the defence after three weeks out with a calf injury.
Rovers’ porous defence was up against the Championship’s second-best before kick-off. It was clear that they couldn’t afford to give away soft goals and expect to get back into the match.
Yet that is exactly what they did as the theme of December continued into January. Neither the defence nor Wahlstedt covered themselves in glory as a long throw was allowed to bounce inside the six-yard box and was nodded in by Fellows at the back post.
West Brom are notoriously one of the stingiest sides in the Championship, particularly at home, when ahead. Set pieces always looked like a problem with Albion dwarfing Rovers in height, size and experience.
Without Szmodics, Rovers were severely lacking any runners in-behind the West Brom defence. That meant the opposition could press very high and suffocate Rovers when trying to play out of defence and through midfield.
It made things very comfortable for the Baggies and they doubled their lead after a comfortable opening 30 minutes. Hyam’s loose header was collected by Thomas-Asante and he fired a brilliant strike through the legs of Brittain and into the far corner.
That realistically ended the contest but a third followed three minutes later. Mowatt’s cross-cum-shot missed everyone, was parried out by Wahlstedt and hit Hyam before bouncing into the net.
