Blackburn Rovers vs Rotherham United. Sky Bet Championship.
Ewood Park.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and Rotherham at Ewood Park as Harvey Elliott and Adam Armstrong strike in a comeback win for Tony Mowbray's side on Wednesday night.
Wednesday 16 December 2020 23:24, UK
Adam Armstrong scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time as Blackburn came from behind to snatch a 2-1 Championship win over Rotherham.
Rovers' leading man had endured a quiet evening but was alert to react quickly in the final minute of injury time to slam home from close range.
It looked like being a frustrating evening for the home side, who were out of sorts and fell behind through a well-taken strike in the 61st minute through Michael Smith, which the visitors deserved on the balance of play.
Harvey Elliott's second goal in as many games restored parity with 10 minutes to go but a grandstand finish never looked on the cards until Armstrong's late, late show - his 16th goal of the season in all competitions.
Blackburn move up to 11th, four points from the play-offs, while Rotherham's miserable away run now reads seven defeats on the spin.
Daniel Ayala replaced the injured Derrick Williams from the weekend defeat to Norwich - one of two changes for Blackburn. The Millers were unchanged after the welcome win against Bristol City.
The first half was not easy on the eye as neither side imposed themselves.
Elliott's vision early on produced a half-chance for Sam Gallagher but he was at full stretch and could only hit the roof of the net with his lob.
The best chance of the half fell to Rotherham in the 16th minute when Matthew Olosunde found space on the right and his cross found Smith but the forward completely missed the target from close range.
It took 34 minutes before any save of note was required and it was easy enough for visiting goalkeeper Viktor Johansson, who parried an effort to safety after Joe Rothwell fired goalwards.
The second period started in similar fashion with Armstrong and Kyle Vassell both sending efforts off target, but it was the Millers who made the breakthrough with their first shot on target.
Smith atoned for his earlier miss in style as he latched onto a flick from Matt Crooks and confidently swept the ball into the bottom-left corner from 12 yards for his third goal of the season.
Crooks missed a glorious chance soon after when he fired wide with the goal at his mercy.
That miss proved costly as Rovers equalised 10 minutes from time when Armstrong's perfectly-weighted pass found Elliott and he showed superb composure to gather the ball before hammering beyond Johansson from 12 yards.
Substitute Freddie Ladapo headed into the side netting for Rotherham and Rovers made them pay at the death when a long ball was nodded across the box by Ayala and Armstrong showed the instincts of a predator to react and hammer home the winner.
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "Football is all about the result isn't it? I would have sat here with a 1-0 defeat and said 'we weren't good enough, couldn't break them down, we didn't create enough chances, gave them a goal'. And yet I'm not, I'm talking about a 2-1 win."
"If football is about styles - and I know some high profile Premier League managers have talked about it this week - their style doesn't suit our style I would have to suggest. There's no right way or wrong way to play football and yet when they don't play in their own half, it's hard to take the ball off them in their own half and restricts our opportunities to score goals the way we have been this year.
"They ask questions of you, I think they are very good at what they do and that's why they can get enough points and win enough games to stay in the Championship."
Rotherham's Paul Warne: "It's disappointing not to come away with anything but I thought we played really well. Out of possession we were excellent. We stopped them from switching it. I just thought we grew into it, I thought we created the best chances.
"My keeper made one save the whole night. So to come here like that makes me really proud but wow does it sting. That late on, the eighth minute of injury time. It's pretty hard on the lads and I don't think they deserved that but unfortunately maybe you just don't get the bounce with the position we're in.
"We haven't lost - well we have lost - because of the seven minutes but unfortunately we just didn't take our chances tonight and I think if we had have taken our chances, the game might have been out of sight. If we play at that level, we'll pick up points. But it feels really sore at the moment."
