Now breathe! 

After the humdinger at Turf Moor last Saturday, it’s a chance for us all to catch our breath and reflect, as we endure the most annoying international break of the season. 

A disappointing cup exit aside, it’s been a largely positive August for Rovers and an encouraging start to the season. The perfect tonic for my early pre-season worries!

Coming into the season, we knew that Jon Dahl Tomasson’s attractive, yet vulnerable, style of play would be replaced with John Eustace’s hard-working and ‘difficult to beat’ mantra. Eustace was dealt a rough card in January when he took the job. He deserves huge credit for (at times) holding the whole club together and pivoting this squad towards a new way of playing and surviving. 

This season that transition is complete, and this is very much a squad in the eyes of Eustace and crucially the eyes of supporters - plenty of Labore and sprinklings of Arte so far in August.

Exhibit A came in Saturday’s derby in a proud Rovers performance. Going into the game, I also fell into the trap of thinking that this was a Burnley side on its knees and one that we could exploit. 

However, after seeing their starting line-up and the first twenty minutes, one was foolish to underestimate them. It felt like the wretched run without even a goal may continue.

But this season, Eustace’s Rovers have shown impeccable recovery skills and a critical ability to stay in games – perhaps different to JDT’s Rovers side. Whether it be Derby coming on strong in the second half at Ewood’s opener, Norwich cantering through the middle at Carrow Road, or Oxford stunning us with a goal-of-the-season contender, Rovers have recovered five precious points. 

The ignition on Saturday was a bolt out of the blue and a moment of sheer brilliance from Andi Weimann. Cue bedlam in this household! Rovers fans older than me will have better memories and other contenders for sure – but for quality of strike, this has to be one of the best (if not the best?) 
Rovers goal in the derby doesn’t it? Certainly, I suspect that goal of the season 24/25 is already decided unless something equally extraordinary happens in the return leg at Ewood!

It was a fantastic moment for Weimann who has started the season extremely well and been a beacon for Eustace’s movement towards experience. However the goal came though, it was an important one for Rovers who finally woke up to the task in hand and battled resolutely. 

Indeed, it should have been much better going into half-time as Rovers were robbed by a horrendous offside decision. I won’t waste my word count here as I’ve made my views very clear on the Arte et Labore podcast this week. But overall, the refereeing performance was sub-par and not worthy of this East Lancashire Derby.

Where I don’t have complaints is the second yellow for Mahktar Gueye. A moment of stupidity from our new cult hero and a game-changing moment. With the suspension and international break, he’s got plenty of time to learn from it before we next see him in the Lancashire Derby at Deepdale.

But if it was stupidity from Gueye, it was anything but from the remaining Rovers charges. Led admirably by Lewis Travis, who I thought showed maturity and cleverness in the middle, the ten men of Rovers restricted our hosts to zero (yes zero) shots on target in the second half. Well worthy of the point and preservation of our unbeaten (league) start to the season. If you can’t celebrate a battling performance with ten men away from home, when will you? So don’t let anyone tell you different Rovers fans.

Also concluding at the back end of last week was the summer transfer window with some intriguing business from Rovers. If we leaned towards experience in our first splurge in the window, this second splurge has some interesting and exciting additions which have the potential to raise our placing this season. 

We finally have cover (and after his performance on Saturday, competition) for Harry Pickering in loanee Owen Beck. Lewis Baker provides physicality and cover for central midfield, and unknown goalkeeper Balazs Toth should eventually challenge Aynsley Pears.

But it’s the signings of Todd Cantwell and Amario Cozier-Duberry that intrigue me the most. If we can rejuvenate Cantwell into the playmaker we’ve seen at times in his early career, and with the raw pace/potential of Cozier-Duberry, Rovers’ power of recovery will be even stronger. 

Tight games could turn into victories or more points could be recovered when behind. Certainly, the squad has much more depth and competition all over. 

It’s made a mockery of where we were a couple of months back, and I can’t wait for a return to action next weekend already!