Blackburn boss Mowbray excited by Armstrong potential

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray praised Adam Armstrong for grasping his opportunity to play through the middle in the 3-0 demolition of Hull.

Rovers put the game to bed spectacularly with three goals in eight minutes, Darragh Lenihan’s 73rd-minute close-range finish and Dominic Samuel’s clinical 80th-minute strike coming other side of Armstrong’s stunning effort.

Armstrong drove a shot into the top corner to score his 10th goal of the season and mark his 150th career league start in some style.

Mowbray said: “To be fair to Adam, he hasn’t been asked to play centre-forward very many times in his Rovers career. He’s been coming off the left wing generally because (Danny) Graham and (Bradley) Dack have played centre-forward at this club for the last three years I’ve been here.

“But opportunity has arisen and he’s showing what I know he can do. I had him a whole season at Coventry. He scored 20 league goals and it was amazing some of the goals he scored, and some of his movement and finishing.

“I had no doubts he could do it and will continue to do it I’m sure. He’s only a young boy still.

“I know I personally wouldn’t have wanted to play against Adam Armstrong, how fast and direct he is, and I’m just happy he’s helping the team win, happy he’s enjoying his football, and helping the team each week.”

Hull are as close to the relegation places as the top six. They have not won since New Year’s Day and Grant McCann lamented his side’s defending and growing injury list.

He said: “It’s a tough place to come. We had a couple of opportunities early in the game and they had some opportunities we got away with. But first 15 minutes of the second half, I thought we started brightly, were in the ascendancy, hit the crossbar and had a couple of opportunities.

“We switched off from a set play. We lost our men, the ball is in the back of the net and the momentum swung in their favour. We’ve lost the game tonight to a set-play, a world-class goal from Armstrong, and an individual, uncharacteristic error.

“It’s not good, conceding through set-plays. It’s something we have to work on.

“We lack confidence a little bit, as does happen when you lose five of the last six league games. We don’t hide behind it but it’s not ideal that we’ve got only 13 first-team players in the building.”

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