FA Cup 3rd Round
Team: Ingram, Perch, Onuoha, Lynch, Bidwell, Hall, Luongo (Cousins), Wszolek, Eze (Ngbakoto), Gladwin (Shodipo), Mackie
Subs Not Used: Lumley, Hamalainen, Manning, El Khayati
Attendance: 7,482 (including 917 Rovers fans)
Blackburn beat fellow Championship side QPR in the FA Cup third round. The visitors took an early lead when Joel Lynch put the ball into his own net after Matt Ingram had saved Sam Gallagher’s header.
Liam Feeney tapped home from close range to double the Rovers lead before Jake Bidwell pulled one back from the penalty spot after Yeni Ngbakoto was fouled in the area.
Jordan Cousins had a chance to equalise for the hosts but shot wide late on.
Blackburn have now progressed to the fourth round for three successive seasons.
QPR, who have won their last two in the league, pushed for a late leveller but have now been beaten at the third round stage 48 times in their history – an unwanted record they jointly hold with Plymouth.
QPR boss Ian Holloway: “That team, who haven’t played before, will never be picked again. Simple as that.”
“I wanted that team to fight and do it for each other. Unfortunately they couldn’t do it. Simple things we don’t do well enough as a group. It’s very disappointing.”
“There will be changes. You’ve got to get your foot in and we didn’t do it well enough. Jamie Mackie did – he tackled everybody. But where’s the rest? Come on.”
“I’ve made some changes but I wanted to win and I thought that was a strong enough team.”
Blackburn boss Owen Coyle: “I always say that at the top end of the pitch you want players who can influence games by having assists or scoring goals, which is the best thing in the game.”
“We say to wide players that they’ve got an onus on them to get in there and score goals. You can never have enough goalscorers at your club.”
‘So it was great that Liam Feeney got on the end of that and he earned it because his performances have been of a very high standard.”
BBC Sport
I was really pleased to see Eze start. He has a good goalscoring record for the U23’s this season and he really should have started upfront. He was doing really well for the initial 12 minutes or so and then he suddenly went down with no other player near him!
He was taken off, but came back briefly and after 18 minutes his first team debut was over.
What did we have upfront and what was our best defender doing in midfield (again)?
The visitors had taken a lucky early lead following Sam Gallagher’s free header, which Matt Ingram managed to push out, but the ball rebounded off of Joel Lynch and into the net.
Hammersmith born Liam Feeney was on hand to put away Blackburn’s second after 58 minutes.
He did eventually come on for Ben Gladwin after 56 minutes, but I thought Olamide Shodipo should have started.
Yeni Ngbakoto won a penalty and he also saw his flicked header flash just wide.
Jordan Cousins had a very good opportunity late on but his shot wasn’t even on target!
It was all a bit of a mish mash, and very predictable (again)!
Steve Russell