Looking at no central defenders on the subs bench so presumably Nyambe is cover for Leniham and Williams also. I will join in the upbeat mood about that selection of eleven and the bench. All we have top do now is win- simples....

Very much hoping we get a continuation of Trybull who subbed for Evans and was dramatically better.

Reading game comes a day too soon before his quarantine ends.

Not totally convinced but he is not the soft touch he was and he has the ability to get through or past more than one player. My gut feel is that when Dack is back we will simply have too many players on the park the opposition need to double up against and if Brereton can play well enough to sustain his place, he should thrive in such conditions. Then it will be down to Holtby, Travis, Rothwell, Trybull, Johnson, Dack, Arma, Elliott, Brereton and Dolan to scrap it out for who gets into the midfield and forward 6. Notice there are several significant names missing whom I don't think are good enough to challenge those ten.

2017/18 started with those two defeats as well- I was not alone in contemplating life in League 2 after that Doncaster home defeat. Mowbray has said he doesn't take serious notice of the table until after 12 games. Well taking you at your word, just the six back to back wins starting at Coventry please, Tony.

Pretty well how I feel about it especially as Coventry seem to be down to the bare bones. The big squads at Rovers and Forest could well be decisive in this season of Covid quarantines and two games a week. I have no doubt there are managers who would get this Rovers squad up in first or second place. Not sure Mowbray is one of them.

FT 0-0 after 5 more minutes of injury time taking the total for the match to 17 minutes added. Rovers up to 2nd in Division 1

Brennan now injured and we have already used our three subs. Carrying on.

Paton on for the injured Pike. McBride has had three great chances including missing a sitter just now.

Saadi on for Burns now for Rovers. Rovers started second half on top but West Ham just had two great chances. Rovers defenders blocking everything so Stargiarkos has had nothing to do until making a great save from a third West Ham chance- Hammers well on top now apparently.

HT 0-0

West Ham had two lengthy injury breaks as well. 12 minutes of added time. Rovers having the better chances but still 0-0

Joe Grayson stretchered off. Sam Barnes on as his replacement.

Text coverage of the game on the West Ham game only on the West Ham web site https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/october/23-october/live-blog-west-ham-united-u23s-vs-blackburn-rovers-u23s

Any news on Ayala's injury?

I am not counting any of our dropped points directly down to Mowbray and am hoping that zero stays throughout the season because if it does, play-offs are pretty certain at a minimum. Mowbray misjudgements undoubtedly cost us a play-off slot last season and arguably might have done the season before.

Rothwell still quarantining. One of the reasons we need this outsized squad is we have already lost two players to 14 day quarantines and inevitably will lose more no matter how careful everybody is.

Stanley deep in the doodoo there. In these circumstances emergency loans can be made- wonder if it is a chance for Rovers to get League 1 experience for some youngsters? Stanley have three more games before they come out of 14 day quarantine and that is assuming none of them develop more severe symptoms.

We play with 26? We had 13 players unavailable v Forest.

Coventry have beaten QPR, drawn with Barnsley and Swansea and lost to Brentford, Bournemouth and Bristol City. So based on that, if we are contenders we have to beat them. Williams almost certainly in for Ayala. I would like to see Douglas for Bell and Trybull for Evans. Brereton's and Elliott's performances v Watford should retain their places and Arma is undroppable but when Dolan strengthens up (not that he is a wallflower now) I wonder if he could challenge for leading the line? He'd win a few penalties at the very least with those quick feet of his.

Rovers away at West Ham under 23s this afternoon.. Not getting iFollow coverage and West Ham don't have a TV station so I guess there will be no live coverage. West Ham are bottom of the table and Rovers could go top with a win.

Gallagher had a knock to a knee in training so was omitted. I don't see how he even gets on the bench when we have something like a full squad fit and available.

Nyambe furthest out on the right picks up the Watford player furthest out on their left even if its the GK up for a 95th minute corner. For that goal, Cleverley was the player Nyambe should have seen and not allowed an unchallenged header. I am a fan of Ryan's. That goal went horribly wrong for Rovers by what was not happening on the left side of our defence but Nyambe could and should have been more alert to Cleverley stealing in.

Harrison Reed and who else? None of the others have left Ewood and shone if you're being honest.

Lost in all the pain of losing a game we should have won, Harvey Elliott had an unremarked but impressive League game debut. This Kid is one class footballer. Midfield needs to adjust its eyelines to spot the runs he makes because apart from Holtby they were missing them last night. I know that Dack is a player you build a side around but I think Harvey will come into that category before too long. Certainly Watford were treating him with the greatest respect if you looked at the lack of space he was given to work in. Even so, look at this: