Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson targeting deep run in Carabao Cup

Posted Wednesday, August 09, 2023 by PA

Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson has targeted a Carabao Cup run after his side edged past Walsall in a 4-3 win.

Rovers, who reached the fourth round last season, went behind twice in the first half through Oisin McEntee and Ross Tierney, but Zak Gilsenan and Niall Ennis equalised.

Second-half goals from Jake Garrett and John Buckley gave Blackburn a two-goal cushion which Ronan Maher halved late on.

Blackburn prevailed and Tomasson outlined his ambitions.

He said: “I’m delighted to win the game. My desire, as you know, is to have another great cup run like we had last season, for those brilliant moments.

“It’s great to see five debuts today. We scored four excellent goals. Sometimes we played brilliant football, sometimes we made a lot of mistakes.

“It was great to see all those mistakes and see entertaining football! Sometimes as a coach it’s not that fun but we know they are learning at the job, those young boys.

“I was not satisfied with the first half. We shouldn’t forget that Walsall did a really good job. Made it difficult. But we played too slow, playing sidewards in the first half. Second half was much better.”

Mat Sadler thought Walsall were denied a “stonewall” penalty, but was proud of his charges.

“It’s difficult to be critical of the lads tonight, first half especially,” He said. “We could have scored at least another couple.

“There was without question a stonewall penalty turned down. I don’t know how. The way we countered on them, broke, the football we played, was extremely encouraging.

“The frustration is when you go in the lead and give it away. Frustrated that we conceded a couple of goals that took it away from us in that second period but I can’t be anything but proud of them for what they’ve put in tonight.”