Blackburn Rovers loanee Andrew Moran is hoping the Lancashire side can start turning defeats into wins and march up the table ahead of tomorrow’s tough fixture against promotion favourites Leicester City.
The 19-year-old joined the Championship side on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer and scored his first goals of the season when he hit a brace in the 5-2 Carabao Cup win over Cardiff City on Wednesday night. His performance earned the plaudits of manager Jon Dahl Tomasson, who said after the game;
“(Moran is) a great player, first of all. He scores goals, he can give assists.
“He’s intelligent, his flair on the ball is extremely good, to carry the ball, he’s good to play one or two touches. He works hard for the team.
“A young boy, young man, who is also very driven. He wants to become better, he is very ambitious. So we are very pleased with Andy.”
Moran joined Brighton’s academy in 2020 from Bray Wanderers, making his debut for the club a year later. He penned a four-year contract extension at the Amex Stadium earlier this year and the decision was made in the summer for him to be given a loan move in order to aid his development.
After his antics in the week, the Republic of Ireland under-21 international believes that Rovers are capable of putting a run of wins together in order to start climbing the table. They have lost their last two league games – against Sunderland and Ipswich Town – although Moran states that the results were not a fair reflection of the games themselves. Speaking to official club media, the teenager said;
“It’ll be a challenge, just like Ipswich was, but I hope we can do well and get the points.
“The performances have been really good this season aside from the first half at Ipswich where we know we weren’t at it.
“I think, if you watch the Sunderland game, we were the better team, controlled the game and looked really dangerous, especially in that first half-hour.
“It’s about getting those final details right and I’m sure we’ll get positive results.”
Continuing, Moran hinted that the unpredictability of the Championship means that there is no reason why Blackburn couldn’t challenge for a play-off place this season;
“You see every year in the Championship that there are only a couple of points between 10 teams in the league.
“If you can put a few wins together then you’ll really start climbing the table. We’re ready for the long haul.”
Today’s results mean that Blackburn have now slipped to 17th in the table, although a win over Leicester tomorrow would see them move up to ninth.
Writer’s View
Brighton’s scouting network has emerged as one of the best in world football and the fact that Moran was handed a new four-year deal earlier this year indicates that the Seagulls believe he has a big future.
Blackburn will of course have their sights set on a play-off place this season, but the Championship is arguably the toughest it has been in years and it will be a tough ask. However, players such as Moran will give them every chance, but they need to start picking up points quickly.
