Tony Mowbray unhappy with performance despite win over Bury

Posted Tuesday, February 20, 2018 by PA

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray was critical of his side’s performance despite a 2-0 win over Bury which moved them top of League One.

Rovers were frustrated in the first half but pulled away in the second thanks to Danny Graham’s header – his seventh goal in the last six Ewood Park league games – and Adam Armstrong’s fourth for the club.

The win means Rovers move to the league’s summit for the first time this season after extending their unbeaten home run to 14.

And although Mowbray felt his side lacked their usual fluency, he was relieved the points are in the bag.

He said: “I’m a bit frustrated to be honest. We weren’t as fluent as we have been. We did change formation and I think their defensive midfield players sat on our two number 10s and made it difficult to get through their lines. In the end we had to go a bit longer into Danny, pushing Armstrong up alongside him, and it paid dividends.

“For us it was just about getting the result ultimately. A bit disappointed with the performance but we put the points in the bag and we move onto the next game.

“The bigger name you are in League One, it’s a massive game when you play this football club and you come to this stadium, so we have to be at our maximum every game to get the three points. Whilst we weren’t today, we managed to get there. Graham and Armstrong did what they do and scored goals.”

The result ends Bury’s five-match unbeaten run. But defeat – a sixth in the last eight away – leaves the Shakers second bottom and manager Ryan Lowe felt that a good performance was undone by sloppy goals.

He said: “I’m disappointed but we knew it was going to be tough. When we’re on top, we’ve got to score.

“I said that to the boys, we had 14 shots to their 10, four on target. When you come to a place like Blackburn when you’re on top, you’ve got to score.

“Disappointed, but happy in the way we played some attacking-style football. We’ve come to Blackburn and taken the game to them. Up until 51 minutes when they scored, I thought we were the better team.

“We’ve lost the game of football so we’re disappointed but the way we’re playing, the way we want to run forward, pass forward, create chances, we’re doing that. But ultimately the goals win you games and we’ve conceded two sloppy goals.

“I’m disappointed with the goals. They were the goals we were conceding 10-12 games ago. We don’t want that to happen again. We’ve gifted them two goals tonight.”