Given as Bennett og

Wonderful goal but Rovers riding their luck at the end of the half. Three times balls running loose close in but evading on rushing Forest players. Need to step up the energy level because O'Neill will have seen both our full backs are vulnerable. Expect Cash and Lolley to see far more of the ball and Grabban to come back out after being given a rocket for disappearing most of the first 45. A lot of tight stuff in the middle of the park going nowhere from Rovers thus far. Dack and Graham getting little change from Forest defence which is going very tight on both of them.

Reed ankle injury in training

Haven't kicked off yet!

Win or forget the play-offs for Forest today. The other fixtures today favour them getting closer in all probability. Lolley will probably enjoy his afternoon...

Qatar twice made serious bids to buy Rovers, beginning offering Walker family long before they bought PSG and followed some years on- https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/blackburn-rovers-fc-up-for-sale/articleshow/31975419.cms https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/9365245.blackburn-rovers-owners-deny-qatari-visit-reports/ Most recent approach.

Has to be same again- that XI really gelled to take apart a decent Derby and the team spirit was fabulous. Evans and Smallwood may hold positions but they don't entertain and for sure they have not been avoiding defeats. Forest have a huge amount hanging on this one which is why Rovers starting on the front foot is essential to make Forest crowd and players nervous. We can win this one- I don't expect to win but if we up the accuracy of our attempts on goal, we will be buying tickets to the lottery. Hope Brereton gets a rum from the bench.

I will give him a pass on trying to explain past crap selections but if travis and Reed get dropped in the future, Mowbray will have lost my support.

I am not in the clear out camp and never have been. Hopefully Davenport will be a solid replacement for Reed but based on last night we are probably a commanding central defender and one other Prem class player in the squad short of a promotion campaign. Run of defeats followed by run of wins around the turn of the year showed this squad has the core ability to compete with the best in the Championship especially when adding the talent coming through from the Academy but we somehow need to find a couple of players who will be first names on the team sheet material.

Never mind Mowbray's future, same XI same tactics v Forest please.

Well done Joe!

Lovely win, Rovers totally dominant after the first 5 minutes. Derby flattered to deceive. So good to see players mostly in their right positions and Rothwell to play a blinder. Dack much better than in recent weeks. Now let's see what Mowbray does with this breathing space. Forest got thrashed tonight so will be dangerous opponents on Saturday as it will be last roll of the dice for getting a play off place for them. I will apologise to Williams- he was very solid and no misplaced passes from him.

Reed and Travis the obvious midfield duo but how often have they been paired?

Ewood looks empty.

No Chapman on the bench, Bennett back where he is most vulnerable. Williams in place of Rodwell is like preferring a pet slug to a pedigree Afghan. Let's hope this clicks but the Derby font line probably cannot wait to get out on the pitch.

I used to seriously doubt their wealth based on the 48 or so companies they own including the majority holding in the quoted VHL. However, when the extent of their land holdings around Pune became apparent the picture changed completely. Unlike trump, they are real billionaires. Having said that I still think Rovers bother them and they take a considerable personal interest in us as they do get involved in the minutiae of the club at times.

Has been an extraordinary turn around during which they have smashed several Premier League u-23s and beaten many at the top of the League.

I believe injections into VLL come from personal finances, not the quoted Venkys Hatcheries Limited. We are back into the realms of the family having huge amounts of land around Pune which were scrub when obtained and are now inside one of the richest fastest growing cities in India. Issues over title to the lands which derailed Balaji securing State Bank of India finance which he passed onto Rovers seem to have gone away.

Oh Gawd. Well I suppose she is a distraction from the football... Monster game for Mowbray. Let's see a team capable of winning and then tactics which suggest winning is on the agenda. If he doesn't set Rovers up properly them his remaining support is going to drain away. Revival by Rotherham, Millwall and Reading in recent weeks means it is now far from inconceivable to go down with 47 points this season and Boro are showing it is far from inconceivable to lose six on the bounce. So even a draw tonight would cheer the soul.

Would hate to be a supporter of either club and be following on the BBC website. Penalty Wolves, Wolves 3-2 and Walsall all in the mix. GOAL - Watford 2-3 Wolves

I have invested in iFollow for the match now because I knew if I had to think about it I wouldn't...

Benno will be picked to play in both positions simultaneously. Good engine.

Whatever your position on the wisdom or lack of it in perservering with Mowbray, yesterday was as big a catatonic managerial fail as any Rovers has served up. A saving grace compared with Kean and a very substantial one at that is I know how dangerously corrupt one was and Mowbray is honest and decent which makes this all the more painful to write. 1) Dack was bang out of order yesterday irrespective of his squeeze leaving but when something like this happens you have to look at the management and ask if the player could have been better managed. Compared with the wild boys of the past, Dack comes over as lovable naughty boy. He is a pratt but then so are probably half of all professional footballers and they don't all drive out of the ground to God knows where 30 minutes before kick-off. 2) Bennett in the slot when we have two players crying out to be played in their natural position- Rothwell and Armstrong. MORON 3) When Mulgrew went off there was the opportunity to reunite our most successful central partnership but we got Williams instead of Rodwell. 4) We had a 17,000+ crowd on including the club's future support base so we got the stultifying Evans and Smallwood which would kill any and every attack. I am not bemoaning transfer policy or asking for millions we haven't got. I am not saying Dack should have played. But had we started with travis, Reed and Conway and pushed Rothwell into the slot behind Graham then brought Rodwell and Chapman on as subs ww would at least have been properly entertained and not driven to distraction by mindless football going nowhere. We might even have won because Stoke were there for taking apart especially with the gift of their injuries. Just use the squad we have in the right way- they were plenty good enough to get to 60 points this season. Until Mowbray utterly screwed up yesterday. 60 points or else...

Putting in a strong word for Rothwell. 1) Mowbray 100% wrong and without attenuating circumstances not to play Joe in the hole behind Graham yesterday 2) Slotting Armstrong in as a second striker might have excused him but putting Bennett into Dack' s slot was inexcusable. Even ifollow commentators assumed Rothwell was in the Dack position and had to correct themselves incredulously- yes Mowbray's decision was that bad. 3) Rothwell is being criticised for not getting forward but why go forwards when Bennett will reliably lose possession and neither Smallwood nor Evans are looking up while a ball played from the back will be spotted going over head at the height of a 747. 4) Rothwell's boss is like a perpetually stuck record wittering about Rothwell's defensive duties being ignored. FFS why go forward when you know the ball won't come and the boss will slag you off for it? Joe is in a no win bind and we are all losers for it.

Boro have lost 5 on the bounce now.