“Easy! Easy!” and “Hughesy, Hughesy, what’s the score?” sang the delirious Blackburn Rovers fans in that memorable moment when Josh King bagged a hat-trick, and his side’s fourth, to kill off this FA Cup tie with only 55 minutes played.
As Rudy Gestede, with a header saved well by Jack Butland, then Craig Conway, who danced through before steering a shot wide, might have added a fifth and sixth strike for Rovers, Stoke City can count themselves fortunate to have departed with “only” a 4-1 shock scoreline against their name.
A slight sadness is that only 13,934 were at Ewood Park to witness the latest sprinkling of magic offered up by a competition that continues to flourish, despite this age of Premier League hype and riches.
For Gary Bowyer, an emphatic result that followed knocking out Swansea City – also from the big league – in the previous round was vindication of a selection policy that moved him to make eight changes from the XI who beat Rotherham United 2-1 here on Tuesday.
“We have got a good squad. This was our third game in a week and we have six in the next three weeks. We have to be sensible,” the Blackburn manager said. Of making a habit of beating top-flight teams in the FA Cup, he added: “We certainly try. I thought, to a man, we were excellent, outstanding. Full praise to the lads. I don’t think they got enough credit for what they did in the last round. To go down 1-0 so early and come back, made it a great Cup tie. It was a massive squad effort and a massive team effort. Josh King is going to get the plaudits for his hat-trick and rightly so.”
Stoke, piloted by former Rovers manager Mark Hughes, had taken the lead in the 10th minute. Yet, although they had further chances, the afternoon belonged to Bowyer’s men, whose scoring of four unanswered goals was the most rousing of comebacks.
Until this outing, King, a 23-year-old Norway international, had scored only one goal for the club this season. Now the former Manchester United player has quadrupled his return, while also banking a glowing Cup memory to keep him warm in his dotage.
Stoke may – and should – kick themselves. This was an unprofessional return from precisely the same bunch of outfield players who made Manchester City wobble in the first half of Wednesday evening’s Premier League encounter.
Hughes said: “All in all, a very poor performance by us. Blackburn executed their game plan far better. We didn’t deal with their front guys. Their back four did fundamentals which we didn’t do particularly well. I have no complaints. It doesn’t matter who you are up against, you need to do them.”
Although Manchester City had pulled away after the break of the midweek match, to win 4-1, Hughes could hardly be blamed for changing only his goalkeeper – Jack Butland came in for Asmir Begovic – given how his charges had played.
Hughes was let down badly, Geoff Cameron hardly helping the cause by being sent off just before the break for the incident that allowed Gestede to put Blackburn ahead from the penalty spot.
Stoke’s opener was regulation stuff. Victor Moses swung in a corner from the right and, after a scramble, Peter Crouch pinballed the ball in off Simon Eastwood’s bar for a third strike in three games.
It proved a busy opening, as Steven N’Zonzi required treatment a few minutes later – plus a head bandage – while, earlier, Conway had replaced Ben Marshall, who appeared to have hurt a shoulder.
Conway’s introduction was to be fortunate as he was pivotal to Blackburn’s equaliser. He floated a corner on to Shane Duffy’s head and, when he propelled the ball toward goal, King touched it home for his first.
This was after 36 minutes. By the time the interval arrived, Blackburn were the ascendant team and had deservedly taken the lead – and Hughes had talking to do, his side, by now, down to 10 men.
Because of the delays for treatment, eight minutes was added and, deep into this, Rovers struck through Gestede’s penalty after Anthony Taylor, the referee, sent off Cameron for the foul on King. Of this double decision from the official, Hughes said: “I have seen them given, I have seen them not given. The way the afternoon was shaping up, it was pretty predictable.”
For the second 45 minutes, the visiting manager had taken off Marko Arnautovic for Andy Wilkinson, while Bowyer replaced Williamson with Corry Evans. Before an hour was played, the changes made by the Rovers manager worked, as King scored two almost identical breakaway goals. Each came as he ran free along the left and, taking his time, poked the ball beyond the helpless Butland.
At the final whistle, Hughes was again asked what the result was. It is a count and day the locals will not forget soon. To the question of whether Blackburn can win the FA Cup, Bowyer said: “Do me a favour.” But their supporters will now dream so.
