Pompey's Chimes Silenced

[Paul]

Blackburn Rovers continued the steady improvement seen at the club under Mark Hughes with a 1 - 0 win at Fratton Park which the manager described as "...a vital win for us" Hughes spoke of his delight at the contributions from the two debutants Ryan Nelsen and Aaron Mokoena both making their first full appearances in the Premier League "We were worried before the game having lost two defenders and both central midfielders but the lads who came in where excellent."

In what has been described as a "fiery encounter" and a "miserable match" Portsmouth had two players sent off for violent conduct. Lualua was dismissed in the 5ist minute for head butting Andy Todd. Fout minutes later Morton Gamst Pedersen scored his debut league goal for Rovers when he latched on to a clever pass from David Thompson and dinked the ball past Shaka Hislop in the Pompey goal. In the 90th minute Portsmouth's Faye was sent off following a wild challenge on Brad Friedel.

Portsmouth: Hislop, Stone (Taylor 20), Primus, De Zeeuw,Stefanovic, LuaLua, Faye, O'Neil, Berger, Yakubu,Kamara (Fuller 86).

Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Unsworth, Hughes.

Sent Off: LuaLua (51), Faye (90).

Booked: O'Neil, Faye.

Blackburn: Friedel, Nelsen, Todd, Mokoena, Johansson, Emerton,Tugay (Reid 76), Thompson, Pedersen, Gallagher (Jansen 74),Dickov.

Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Stead, Gray.

Booked: Nelsen, Mokoena, Johansson, Emerton, Tugay, Dickov.

Goals: Pedersen 55.

Att: 19,904.

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