Mowbray hails ‘quality’ Blackburn performance

Tony Mowbray felt his in-form Blackburn side “played like a top team” in the 3-0 home victory over Hull.

Rovers are now just three points off the top six of the Sky Bet Championship after a fourth league victory on the spin which was as professional as it was dominant.

Boss Mowbray said: “I think the first half was as good as I can remember from them.

“We had a pretty light week’s training and that was there for all to see.

“We had the quality to keep the ball and probe down both sides of the pitch.

“I thought we really took them (Hull) out of their stride.

“It was good. We played like a top team and that denied the opposition opportunities.”

Hull also have an outside chance of reaching the play-offs following a superb run of form which saw them go 10 games unbeaten.

But Blackburn were operating on a different level for most of the afternoon and surged into a 2-0 lead at the break.

Adam Armstrong put the hosts on their way after 10 minutes when he capitalised upon Bradley Dack’s defence-splitting pass.

Jack Rodwell then increased Blackburn’s advantage eight minutes later with a controlled header. It was Rodwell’s first goal for 504 days.

Mowbray said: “Once again Rodwell was oozing class, but there were lots of good performances.

“Jack’s a really good professional and you could not wish to meet a nicer lad.

“We’ll have conversations (about his future) but it has to suit all parties.”

Hull improved after the restart, but a home win was confirmed after 78 minutes when the excellent Harrison Reed dinked the football over goalkeeper David Marshall.

Mowbray said: “In the second half they changed things around and played two up front, so we had to be disciplined and organised behind the ball.

“The third goal was always important. I’m happy with the result and happy with the performance.”

Hull head coach Nigel Adkins refused to be too despondent as his side’s unbeaten run came to an abrupt halt.

Adkins’ hand was weakened in the build-up to the game with the loss to injury of defender Reece Burke.

Fellow centre-back Ondrej Mazuch also hobbled off before the interval to leave Hull short of options at the back.

Adkins said: “It doesn’t help that we lost a couple of centre-halves. That wasn’t ideal.

“The first-half performance was uncharacteristic of where we’ve been, but Blackburn are a good side and credit to them.

“The players have been on a great run of form, but this wasn’t at the level we’ve been at.

“We want to win all the time. I’m annoyed we haven’t won but I was disappointed with our first-half performance.

“We probably passed the ball too much which invited Blackburn on the front foot.”

Adkins confirmed that star player Jarrod Bowen suffered a knee injury late in the game.

He added: “We don’t know how severe that is yet.

“Hopefully it’s just a kick, but we’ll have to wait and see.”