Gary Bowyer has spoken of his relief after his Blackburn Rovers side finally recorded their first win of the new season on Saturday afternoon.
Rovers finished ninth in the Championship standings last term, and were expected to build on this to launch a bid for promotion this time round. But their campaign got off to a 2-1 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was followed by four draws and two more defeats, leaving them winless ahead of the visit from Charlton Athletic this weekend.
Jordan Rhodes gave the Lancastrians the lead ahead of the half-time interval, and then doubled their advantage on 75 minutes when he notched his fourth goal in the matter of three matches. The three points were wrapped up ten minutes later, when substitute Tom Lawrence, who had a hand in the second goal, scored a third much to the relief of manager Bowyer.
“First and foremost we are absolutely delighted with the win for the supporters,” he told Radio Rovers. “There’s relief around the ground, we haven’t celebrated a win this season and we had forgotten what that felt like, so I’m delighted for everybody. But we can’t get carried away, it is one win, we need to now go and perform at a tough place like Hull, so we’ll start focusing on that now.”
This win lifts Blackburn out of the early relegation zone, and they will look to move closer to the top-half of the table when they travel to Hull City next weekend. The Tigers, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, have started life in the second-tier in decent form, and currently stand third in the table following a 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
