Blackburn 5-2 U's (FAC R3): No Disgrace

There was to be no repeat of the heroics of Newcastle at a three-quarters full Ewood Park on Saturday as a gutsy U's performance ultimately fell short against a strong Blackburn side. @vinylperez was there on what turned out to be a fairly enjoyable day despite the result.

It was an early start for the Amber Army on Saturday as 1600 of us headed north to Blackburn to see if United could once again pull off a (admittedly much lesser) FA Cup shock for the second time in three seasons. It's fair to say Blackburn doesn't quite hold the glamour of Newcastle, both on a footballing and boozing sense, but it was still a decent turn out from United fans, and a chance for many to tick off a new ground, United having not played at Ewood since 1993.

As a result of Jack Walker's millions spent in the early 90's Ewood Park is a decent modern ground, on three sides at least. Holding just over 30,000 it was disappointing to see that they'd only managed to sell 7,000 or so home tickets for the fixture. I know we're hardly the biggest draw, and that Blackburn are a long way from their Premier League winning heyday, but tickets were a only tenner so it would have been nice if a few more of their fans had turned up for the occasion.

United are undergoing a bit of an injury crisis at the moment, the type which has led to serious suggestions on the messageboard that we wheel Barry Corr out of retirement for a bit. With no out and out strikers available (youngster Brandon Njoku was cup-tied) United went with Sullay Kaikai leading the line, with Adam May in the hole behind. Jack Lankester & James Brophy had the wings, with Cousins and Digby in the centre. At the back, the only surprise was that Michael Morrison was dropped for Ryan Bennett, Jubril Okedina keeping his place despite a horrorshow against Orient on New Years Day. Our bench contained two goalkeepers and one youth teamer and was still two men short of what was allowed.

United got off to a great start - Jack Lankester curling one in from distance after only seven minutes. Blackburn responded fifteen minutes later, with ex-Scum striker (and Championship top scorer) Sammie Szmodics scoring in front of the U's fans who responded with the grief he deserves. United responded almost immediately after, Kaikai lashing one from the edge of the area after a great cross from Brophy. Blackburn and Szzmodics pulled level ten minutes later, and Szzzmodics put Blackburn ahead in the dying seconds of the first half.

Despite scoring twice already it was obvious that the game was only going to go one way in the second half - Blackburn were easily on top and added two more goals to put the game to bed, and still found time to bring on a fifteen year old kid (in an unsponsered shirt as he's too young to use the vapes that Blackburn's sponsor sells) for this debut.

Whilst there was probably only ever going to be one winner of this tie it was disappointing to see that almost all of Blackburns goals came from poor defending. Szzzzmodics shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near as much time and space in the box that he got, and we need to be braver when clearing our lines. Sometimes lumping it up and away is the better option that trying to play it out. Despite the five goals conceded it was good to see Ryan Bennett back in the side, his class really showed through and prevented the scoreline being even higher. We're a League One side so players will have poor days now and again, but if I was Neil Harris I wouldn't let James Brophy leave the training ground until he learns to 1) use his right foot and 2) shoot. Keep him there overnight if you need to, don't let him sleep. It shouldn't be difficult for a professional footballer to play a short pass with their weaker foot, but for whatever reason JB just won't attempt it. It's so predictable and snuffs out any attacking intent he may have. He's a fantastic player and you could argue that if he was able to shoot and score he wouldn't be at a team like us, but at the moment it's actively damaging us.

Someone I want to single out for the opposite reason though is Jack Lankester. I've been really critical of him in the past despite thinking he's technically a very good player. He came into his own yesterday and had a really good game, and you could see what his goal (which was great) meant to him. He strikes me as a bit of a confidence player so let's hope that performance really brings out the best in him for the rest of the season.

What do we take from this then? Okay it was a heavy defeat and we need to tighten up a bit at the back. Cut out the little errors and we'll be alright. We need bodies in up the top of the pitch and Harris has already made a couple of loan offers, so we'll definitely see new faces in the squad this January. Other than that, we did alright. To score two goals of that quality against a Championship side shows that there's fight in this squad, that we're not going to roll over as often as we have done. Orient was a shocker of a performance but in context it was probably on the cards. The cup was a bit of a distraction this season, now let's concentrate on getting enough League points on the board to stay clear of trouble.

Man of the Match: Jack Lankester. That's the player we know he can be.

Soundtrack of the Match: The Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town