[Archived] Norwich 1 -1 Rovers

[Paul Mellelieu]

We can only buy players in the transfer window Rvoer6. By the way have you seen Donnelly play? Ot Pedersen for that matter?

A good result considering the sending off. I was interested to hear Hughes' post match comment about the team's improving fitness. Well done Rovers.

[Ewood Dream]

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes was delighted with the commitment of his side following their 1-1 draw with Norwich.

Despite being down to ten-men following Jay Bothroyd's sending off - Blackburn came from behind to level 1-1.

"Obviously at that point [the sending off] you fear the worst, you cannot do that no matter if you are the victim of a nasty tackle you cannot lash out on a football pitch," said Hughes.

"But to be fair second half the lads were superb and on chances in the second half I thought we shaded it and that was with one less man.

"We had great energy and two or three weeks ago we could not have sustained that, so we have shown how far we have come.

"The determination and commitment meant we deserved it."

[Lathund]

Post-match comments from BBC:

"The players have got Jay off the hook. He'll learn from that. It was a disappointing tackle he took but you can't retaliate," Hughes said.

"Jay owes his team-mates a debt of gratitude. It's disappointing as I felt he was our best player before the red."

Hughes hailed the performance of Paul Dickov, who headed the late equaliser which prevented the Canaries earning their first Premiership win this season.

"He is small in stature but he's got great heart and I thought he was absolutely superb," he said.

"It was a thankless task up there on his own in the second half, but he caused them problems every time he got the ball.

"He retained possession for us, created chances and got his reward as well. I'm delighted for him."

Edited November 6, 2004 by Lathund

[1864roverite]

cant wait for a man at the match report

(or lady)

got to be grateful for a point as I was distraught at having another sh££ Saturday evening.

Obviously the team showed a lot of spirit and resilience when they went down to 10 and that can only bode well for the next 4 or 5 games.

[philipl]

I shouldn't let rover6 irritate me but he does.

From the Radio commentary/statistics, Norwich came out steaming today. And before anyone dismisses the Rovers' achievement in holding them at 0-0, remember Norwich gave Arsenal (when they were flying at the beginning of the season) an almighty fright and pegged Everton back frm 0-2 to 2-2 in a twenty minute spell.

In fact after 20 minutes today, the possession stats were Norwich 68% Rovers 32%.

The Rovers turned that around so much that just before Norwich scored against therun of play, the possession stats were Norwich 49%, Rovers 51%. In other words, Rovers must have had close to 60% of the play over the following 40 minutes including 15 minutes without Bothroyd.

Not condoning Bothroyd who was n absolute idiot but the commentary team were observing that Rob Styles had missed several bad fouls on Rovers players and his linesman had dropped a couple of clangers in flagging Rovers offside.

Sadly Bothroyd's moment of madness cost us a win and very nearly caused a wholly avoidable defeat.

The good news seems to be Ferguson and Emerton playing to the very considerable best, Tugay doing well (yes rover6) and McEveley, Todd and Nissa operating as a pretty effective unit. Neill seemed to be pretty clueless gainst Huckerby.

Anyway, I look forwards to reading the comments of those who were there. Well done for making so much noise.

[Eddie]

One last thing though, Boothroyd can sod off back to where he came from.

Were you saying this last weekend?

[krislu]

One last thing though, Boothroyd can sod off back to where he came from.

Were you saying this last weekend?

Why should he?

[Cocker]

One last thing though, Boothroyd can sod off back to where he came from.

Were you saying this last weekend?

Why should he?

Yes I was saying it last weekend. Yes I was pleased with the goal (obviously) but there is just something I dont like about him. I would rather play with Gally, Stead or Dickov

My opinion of course so dont jump on my back if you disagree

[frosty]

Heard Dickov was excellent.

Bothroyd let us down, though. But why are people saying he should go back to Italy? Anyone can make mistakes.

[broadsword]

Jay potentially cost us 2 points this weekend.

The other Jay definitely cost us two last weekend. Maybe we should sell, or is it only bothroyd who feels our wrath?

[allan]

Back from match. Fairly even first half with fewe chances. Nissa very poor and virtually handed them a goal with a riduculous stooping back header. Team performace improved towards halftime and Hughed is right Bothroyd was the outstanding player up to his sending off. Reminds me of Collymore in many ways - build,control playing style,shooting. Unfortunately he is also a complete numpty in the head. I hope Hughes can sort him out but sadly it may need the men in white coats. Having said that I can recall Hughes himself getting sent off for similarly stupid kick outs.

Second half fight back was remarkable as Rovers in complete control with 10 and Norwich non-existent - on this showing they will definitely go down- as virtually all the contributors to their the phone-in on local radio confirmed afterwards. Several personal outstanding contriburions particularly Ferguson, Dickov, McCeveleyand Reid - yes note the last name. In the end a point was the least they deserved but definitely against the weakest team in the league.

[waggy]

fantastic result with ten men,the rovers support seemed quite vocal on the radio.and we all had a laugh in the chatroom,them who could get connected that is.

DISCIPLINE has got to improve,how many games are we going to lose points due to player's losing there rag.hughesy must sort this out.we seemed to be having the better - off the 2nd half,then radio lancs goes round the grounds and we are 1 down.

desperate measure's were needed so i gave it dickov with both barrell's and low and behold radio lancs goes round the grounds again,the chat goes crazy and we are level,who said the dwarf was rap.

still so most off the palarse and arsenal and palace look decent,we are going to have too improve even more than we have done in the last 2 weeks.

[McClarky]

Hughes sounded quite up-beat after the game and was saying again about how their fitness is improiving. It must have been really bad before for him to keep mentioning it. maybe being fit wasn't 1 of the req

[McClarky]

(must have hit the wrong button)

Hughes sounded quite up-beat after the game and was saying again about how their fitness is improiving. It must have been really bad before for him to keep mentioning it. Maybe being fit wasn't 1 of the requirements for being a "real man" under the previous regime.

It was good to come from behind again but we shouldn't go overboard in praising them for getting a pont at Norwich.

Next 5 games are City, Brum, Fulham, Spurs, Palace - we need at least 10 points from these games I reckon to get ourselves off the bottom before a hard run of games.

[RoyRover]

We need a domineering central midfielder to replace Tugay quick.

I'd like to see Reid given ago in the middle, but then again he is getting settled on the right, so I don't know if he should be changed around again. One thing is for sure, as well as a new defender, a central midfield player is needed. Another possibility would be David Thompson.

[Bobby G]

Delighted we came back from a goal down with 10 men.How many matches was it that when we conceded the first goal we went on to lose last season,EVERY TIME!!Already 2 matches we went down 1-0 and we came back to draw.Lets hope we beat Brum next week,but they will be up for it no doubt.We need 3 points at home to get a lift off the bottom.

[Flopsy]

fortnight to the brum game

[AJConroy]

I've just enjoyed the extended highlights on Sky. Like many others I take a lot of comfort from today's game. Some thoughts in no particular order:

- I think there are at least two teams worse than us in the Premiership: Norwich and Southampton. It wont take much for us to pass any one of the next bunch: Fulham, West Brom, Crystal Palace etc..

- after two four-nil drubbings, we're not suddenly going to become world-beaters. A few draws is ok for now. Our Christmas run-in should yield points if we continue to play as we have in the last seven days.

- for reasons I cant put my finger on, the side looked quite settled, calm today. Flitcroft for Tugay was one player replacing another in a system. Bothroyd's dismissal didnt disrupt the system: playing away from home, we played just the one up. There was no need to substitute the defence. Sure there were a few scares but they seemed ok.

- several players seem to be playing for each other now and playing well - Ferguson, Emerton, Reid and Dickov in particular.

- I'd like to see that defence play together for a few matches.

- I am not sure Dickov is good enough to get us into Europe but he's good enough to get us to the mid-table, so I look forward to him battling away for the rest of the season.

- Bothroyd/Dickov or Stead/Dickov or Gally/Dickov .. I am not sure which is best. Bothroyd's reaction today was ridiculous: he should donate this week's salary to charity by way of apology to us all.

Rather looking forward to the next game now. Unbeaten for two matches ..

[waggy]

and hughes is still for the chop

[Andy_f]

Whats happened to Djorkaeff recently?

Gally and Dickov up front next week please!!!

[Flopsy]

and hughes is still for the chop

also good new is that our goal difference is still -15

Still not sure about Hughes but he now seems to be getting the team to play like footballers and not nancyboys.

oh well long way to go.

[super_neill]

Lets hope we beat Brum next week,but they will be up for it no doubt.We need 3 points at home to get a lift off the bottom.

We play City away next week!

[vindaloobob]

just seen the highlights on MotD - what was bothroyd doing? can see how that situation was getting a bit out of hand but you just can't do that. nice to see the norwich guy rolling around on the floor grinning because he knew jay would get sent off too. obviously can't really draw too many conclusions from the 3 or 4 minutes on MotD but Neill's ball was an peach, and it got the finish it deserved from Dickov.

it's heartening at least to see that we have a bit of fight now, 1 goal and 1 man down I was sure we'd set ourselves up for another pummelling.

[tcj_jones]

What a fantastic second half display. Too tired to go into the depth I usually do after games but heres what i thought of todays game...

The first half was poor. Norwich came out wanting a win, we did not. 30 minutes or so of constant pressure and needless giving the ball away from our players. We adopted a ridiculous long ball tactic to Dickov and with Bothroyd dropping back into midfield meant we were toothless in attack. However, Bothroyd was the one piece of class we had, until his stupid sending off. Two good shots and a lot of decent link play with Dickov.

In the 15 minutes preceeding half time Rovers seemed to be getting the edge; finally we were playing the ball along the floor and we put a couple of very decent moved together. Unfortunately we just did not have the touch of class we needed up front.

Second half and a complete transformation. The lads needed a wake up call and the sending off was just that. We looked a different team from the off and when Norwich scored it was totally against the run of play. Cannot really blame anyone for the goal, perhaps the defender at the back post for not winning the header, but thats about it.

But did we give up? Hell no! Ferguson was starting to dictate things in midfield and Reid and Emerton were running the wings superbly. The defense looked solid and for once I was not left thinking we could concede at any minute.

Dickov upfront, however, was being outnumbered 3,4,5 against 1 every time he got the ball and I was just crying for Stead to be brought on. Hughes left it as it was right up till the 75th minute or so and brought Flitcroft on for the disapointing Tugay. At first I was furious at Hughes tactical approach - surely we should be going for a goal? But what Flitcroft brought was a bit of stability and we went from strength to strength.

Rovers continued to press and what really struck me was that Emertons corners were actually pretty decent today and one was met with the head of Johansson and the ball smacked against the bar. It wasn't going to be rovers day and this was made worse by a BLATANT handball in the box, which somehow Match of the Day didn't even feature!

But, alas, who pops in for one of Emertons corners, but Dickov and god did we deserve it. We were out-numbered, but not out-played.

- McEveley is growing in confidence; last week the only thing missing from his game was an attacking edge - today he had it. He impressed me last week for his strength and ability to hold players off and other than one instanced when he was rounded by the pacey Norwich right winger, he put on a very decent display.

- VERY disapointed with Tugay. Last week I thought that we had a perfect pairing in midfield, largely because Tugay was getting stucdk in, winning his tackles and still playing the ball superbly. Today his passing was quite poor at times and he just did not have the same tenacity as against pool.

Ferguson, Emerton, Reid - absolute stars. Ried really impressed and is gaining in confidence - he actually ran at Norwich on quite a few occasions and continued to show why he has kept his place in the team. Emerton again with another decent performance and finally seems to have got his corners sorted. Ferguson, likewise, a very decent game.

Freidel - 6 - not much to do really, but what he did wasn't bad

Neill - 6 - switched off a few times just when I was thinking he had picked his game up. However, not a bad performance.

McEveley - 7 - another solid peformance from a young lad gaining confidence.

Johansson - 7 - for a tall guy he needs to impose himself more, especially when heading defensively.

Todd - 7 the tenacity we have missed this season. Didn't put a foot wrong all match.

Reid - 8 - another quality performance and has started to prove doubters, such as myself, that he can play the right wing role.

Emerton - 8 - another good perfromance, though very quiet first half.

Ferguson - 8 - another commanding performance, with some very good switches of play.

Tugay - 5 - very disapointing from a man who played a cracker last week. Just did not have the tenacity he did against pool and his passing was often wayward.

Bothroyd - 8 - the one quality player on the pitch before he stupidly got sent off. His strength means he is a great linking player from midfield to attack

Dickov - 7 - deserves his rating for running alone. Solid performance, though outnumbered 3,4,5 players on 1 for much of the second half.

Steve Dunn - 6 - missed a fair few fouls that should have gone to rovers and one absolute nail on penalty when a Norwich player controlled the ball with his hand. Correct to send Bothroyd off

Oh and one more thing - even when Rovers had 11 men, we never had more than two players in the box whenever a cross came in. Unacceptable and something that I hope Hughes sorts.

[Neil Weaver]

Bothroyd today, Todd vs Brum a couple of seasons ago. Well, it reminded me anyway. Hope we're able to look back and laugh at the end of the season.