Gary Bowyer says Blackburn’s resilient FA Cup display at Anfield restored pride in the club as they kept a second clean sheet in three games.
The Championship outfit frustrated a below-par Liverpool with a solid defensive display with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
Liverpool 0-0 Blackburn
FA Cup Sixth Round
Anfield
Sunday 8 March 2015
And the Rovers boss believes that, despite being under large amounts of pressure from the home side, his team were unlucky not to grab themselves a goal.
“We’ve had two [clean sheets] in the last three away fixtures, so we are seeing more and more signs of it and are hoping we can finish very strongly after the rest of the Championship season,” said Bowyer.
“In the plan there was always the idea to score a goal, and we nearly came close to that as well.
“It was pleasing that we didn’t just come here and defend. We wanted to take the game to Liverpool”
Gary Bowyer Blackburn manager
“In the first half we had Craig Conway’s chance, and then Alex Baptiste’s fantastic header and a wonderful save from Mignolet.
“It was pleasing that we didn’t just come here and defend. We knew we’d have long spells of that, but we wanted to take the game to Liverpool.
“We thought aerially we were very dominant and had a couple of opportunities.
“But full credit to the players, they had a right old go and restored a bit more pride in the club. They worked ever so hard, everyone put a shift in.”
Their performance has earned Blackburn another crack at the Reds in the replay back at Ewood Park, but they have to wait until either 7 or 8 April.
Alex Baptiste attempts to block a Daniel Sturridge shot
Bowyer says that with a month to wait it can only help his team get ready for another tough test.
“I think our lads will need that long to recover to be perfectly honest, the amount of miles they’ve run,” said a smiling Bowyer. “But it gives us something to look forward.
“We’ll have another plan. You earn the luck a little bit and it comes from the hard work the lads put in.
“Our chances will be exactly the same, but we might even have one or two back who can help us.”
Rodgers, meanwhile, was rueing two penalty claims that were both denied that could have given Liverpool the chance to break the deadlock early in the first half – particularly a tackle on Adam Lallana by Matt Kilgallon.
Adam Lallana plays a pass
But ultimately, following two Premier League wins back to back against Manchester City and Burnley following their exit from the Europa League, the Liverpool boss is pleased his team are still in the mix.
“We probably needed a bit of luck to get the game opened up in that first 20 minutes – the spaces might have opened up a wee bit more,” he said.
“We were on the back end of a tough week of games. The objective was four points from six against Manchester City and Burnley on the back of the trip to Besiktas.
“We got six out of six and the objective from this game was to make sure we were in the hat for the semi-final.
“We’re still there to reach the semi-final, and we’ll have plenty of coaching time to work on things”
Brendan Rodgers Liverpool manager
“Now we didn’t quite win the game but we’re still in there and I’m very proud of the effort they put in.”
He continued: “I’ve got to be honest, I’m not overly disappointed. Of course we wanted to get through, but today we kept a clean sheet against a team who is dangerous from set-pieces and long balls into the box.
“In the main we defended it well, we’re still there to reach the semi-final, and we’ll have plenty of coaching time to work on things. It just wasn’t to be today.
“Blackburn had a great effort and we’ve seen that before when Championship teams come here. But we have confidence, whether home or away that we can get a result.
Rudy Gestede jumps with Liverpool's Emre Can
“Give credit to Blackburn because they defended very, very well, in a low-block, put bodies on the line and made it very difficult for us.
“The physical and mental energy that we put in to the games is at such a high level and today we just lacked that little bit of sharpness physically. It was just unfortunate that we couldn’t get the result.”
Rodgers also updated on the fitness of defender Martin Skrtel, whose game was just three minutes old before he was stretched off with a head injury.
“He’s fine, but he’ll go to the local hospital to make sure,” said the Irishman.
“He was up walking about and talking after, but as a precaution we just need to make sure he’s OK.”
