West Bromwich Albion were looking to start off 2019 largely where we’d left 2018 as we went into the tie against Blackburn Rovers sat in third place in the Championship table.
Most fans would hope the Play-Offs are already a given following our form in the opening half of the year but the automatic spots aren’t out of our grasp if we can further improve our consistency but of course that meant it was going to be one of those days as we fell to a 2-1 defeat.
After a goalless first half, Blackburn scored twice in the 53rd and 58th minutes although we did quickly get one back from the penalty spot as Jay Rodriguez scored in the 63rd but despite our best efforts we couldn’t get a second, especially after we’d gone down to ten men following a straight red card for Jake Livermore.
Speaking to the BBC following the fulltime whistle, Baggies head coach Darren Moore said of the 90 minutes.
“We went nine games unbeaten. We wanted to go 10. We’ve been on an impressive run of games, we were trying to chalk up our fifth away win this season in succession, but it wasn’t to be. All I’ve said initially is ‘lads, get yourselves gone. Let’s get home, back with your families, let’s have 24 hours away from football’ and we recharge and go again. I thought Blackburn were dogged with their work. In the first half both teams cancelled each other out then the two quick goals for Blackburn allowed them to hold on to something in the second half.”
Hear from the gaffer following this afternoon's defeat at Blackburn Rovers… 💬
Watch the full interview at https://t.co/CZ5IBrM5e0#WBA pic.twitter.com/cUERgpJn0D
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) January 1, 2019