[Archived] News Article -> 2012/13 Match Report: Burnley 1 Rovers 1

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Burnley	(0) 1 – 1 (0)	Blackburn Rovers
Vokes 89		Rhodes 68
Referee: L. Mason		Attendance: 21,341

On the 4th December 2010 the Rovers enjoyed a 3–0 win over Wolves in the Premier League. Nine days later Venky's dispensed with the services of Sam Allardyce in the quest for entertaining football. Two years later and the entertainment is now to be found amongst the mid-table mediocrity that is the Championship. Whilst local bragging rights were happily shared by both sets of fans, the truth is that both of these fairly average sides are likely to be playing Championship football again next season.

Shebby Singh, who made his way from the Directors Box to the dressing room at the end of the game, lapping up the applause and bowing in mock worship of the travelling Ewood faithful, has stated that it is promotion or bust this season. Perhaps now is the time to start explaining what he meant by the term bust? On the evidence of one point from a possible nine this week, promotion is surely no more than a figment of Shebby's imagination.

This result leaves the Rovers a massive twelve points behind Cardiff City — a team who have already taken more points from their ten home games this season than the Rovers have from their full 20-match programme. Add in the fact that we are eleven points behind second-placed Crystal Palace and it's beginning to look like the play-offs are offering us the only chance of redemption this season.

However, after witnessing this unimpressive performance against a distinctly average Burnley side one can only hope that the owners will sanction some finance to improve the make-up of the squad. Make no mistake: this was a pretty turgid affair between two mediocre sides. Burnley had the better of the first half but failed to capitalise on their superiority. The Rovers had the better of the second half but were unable to retain their lead in the dying minutes. In the end a draw was a fair result and the fact that snatching a point at Turf Moor is greeted with relief probably indicates better than anything else just how far this club has fallen in the past two years.

As expected, Henning Berg began the game with the same eleven that finished the match against Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday evening. Thus, Jason Lowe, Colin Kazim-Richards and Morten Gamst Pedersen all started. Markus Olsson and Ruben Rochina dropped down to the bench, while Dickson Etuhu was ruled out through illness but David Dunn was fit enough to take a place on the bench.

Once again the Rovers opened slowly and far too often they gave the ball away through sheer carelessness. Too many passes went astray and the home side began to dominate possession. Scott Dann produced a magnificent block to snuff out a Charlie Austin effort and then Ross Wallace forced an excellent save from Paul Robinson. Jason Shackell then wasted a good opportunity when he fired his volley effort over the bar.

As an attacking force the Rovers were fairly anonymous. A promising run from Pedersen came to nothing and then the Norwegian's free-kick presented Danny Murphy with a shooting chance which was blocked.

Burnley ended the half strongly and Robinson was called upon to produce some of his best form of the season to keep them at bay.

Another effort from Wallace was parried away for a corner and from this Robinson produced a superb fingertip save to keep out an Austin header. Martin Paterson tried to beat the former England 'keeper with a 20-yard effort, but Robinson kept the shot out despite being at full stretch.

The Rovers were grateful to reach the dressing room on level terms at half-time in order to give themselves the opportunity to regroup.

The second half brought a welcome improvement from the Rovers and the early introduction of Joshua King provided some much-needed pace to the attack. Several times the young Norwegian international made dangerous runs down the left flank that caused the Clarets problems.

It was King who left two defenders in his wake before setting up Kazim-Richards and the Turkish international was only just wide with a shot that was hit with the outside of his foot.

The Rovers were now enjoying the better possession and looked more solid defensively than at any time in the first half. On 68 minutes the Rovers made the breakthrough when Adam Henley took the ball past two Burnley players before finding Mauro Formica with an inch-perfect pass. The Argentinean international delivered the perfect cross into the box for Jordan Rhodes to stoop and deftly head the ball past Lee Grant.

The goal sent the 3,400 travelling fans into huge celebrations as three sides of Turf Moor fell silent.

The Rovers almost added a second within minutes when Murphy's free-kick was headed on by Formica and Grant Hanley headed goalwards only for Grant to save.

Sean Dyche shuffled the pack to try to instil more attacking options and Berg sent on Vukcevic for Formica in a bid to see out the final ten minutes. As the game ebbed to its conclusion the home side increased the pressure with a succession of corners and free-kicks which the Rovers did well to defend. However, in the 89th minute the Clarets gained the reward that their first-half endeavours had deserved with an equalising goal.

Vukcevic conceded a fairly soft free-kick and when the ball was floated into the Rovers goalmouth, it was Sam Vokes, who had only been on the pitch a matter of minutes, who glided his header past Robinson into the back of the net. Turf Moor erupted and it was the turn of the Rovers fans to fall silent. Matters might well have gone from bad to worse for the visitors when Vokes almost added a second goal in the dying seconds but fortunately his effort went over.

The game ended with honours even, but in reality it was very much a case of another two points dropped by the Rovers. Their inability to see out games in which they are leading is proving to be an Achilles' heel and one which has already most likely cost them any chance of automatic promotion.

Paul Robinson had an outstanding game and but for him the Rovers could easily have been two or three down at the interval. Scott Dann was the pick of the defenders and managed to get in a number of vital blocks, particularly in the first half when the Rovers were under severe pressure at times. Adam Henley and Martin Olsson did well at full-back and got forward whenever they could. Grant Hanley had a steadier game alongside Dann, but his lack of pace is still a problem.

In midfield Jason Lowe and Danny Murphy occupied the holding positions and got better as the game went on. However, neither was particularly good in terms of passing and far too often their distribution merely gave Burnley possession.

The three attacking midfielders enjoyed varying degrees of success. Mauro Formica had another good game on the right although he seems to be under instructions to move inside as much as possible to support the attack. Formica's willingness to get back and cover Henley and his increased appetite for work has been one of the more welcome aspects of this season and he now seems to have cemented his place in the starting line-up. Morten Gamst Pedersen was restored on the left of the midfield trio and provided his usual mixture of good and bad deliveries. It wasn't his best game, but, as he showed against Bolton when he came on, he can still provide the type of service that Rhodes so badly requires.

The central attacking midfield role was undertaken by Colin Kazim-Richards in place of Rochina and he provided the added muscle that is so often required in this league. He was a constant threat to Burnley, he harried defenders and was always involved. Hopefully, he will be given an extended run in this role as Rhodes clearly needs a more physical presence alongside him than Rochina can provide.

Once again, goal apart, Jordan Rhodes contributed very little as the lone front man. He really is not suited to this role on so many levels. He lacks the pace and physique needed to work the channels and hold the ball up for others to run onto. However, the lad receives little help and it was interesting to note how quickly Burnley were able to get support to Austin — in the same way Bolton did with Davies in midweek — while the Rovers seem very slow in breaking from midfield to support him. The one time he received a decent cross into the box he converted, but sadly the Rovers simply don't have the players who can provide him with the service he requires.

Joshua King caught the eye when he came on and his runs down the left wing provided a welcome injection of pace. However, far too often he had to stop to turn inside to get the ball onto his right foot before crossing and this sometimes negated the excellent work he had done in getting to the deadball line.

Ultimately local pride was preserved with a point apiece, but the fact remains that the Rovers have now won just one of their last seven games since Berg's arrival. Having taken just six points from the last twenty-one on offer merely underlines the fact that the owners' demands for instant promotion are just about as ridiculous as every other decision they have made. At the moment the Rovers, like Burnley, look like a very average Championship side and it is going to take Berg some time to change that. One can only hope that the owners and supporters will accept that it may well take a while before the Rovers have a squad that is capable of challenging for automatic promotion. As for this season, the play-offs are looking like the best we can hope for and even that is in the balance.

Teams

Burnley

Lee Grant; Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee; Chris McCann (Sam Vokes 86), Brian Stock (Danny Ings 75), Dean Marney; Ross Wallace, Charlie Austin, Martin Paterson (Junior Stanislas 75)
Subs not used: Brian Jensen (gk), David Edgar, Danny Lafferty, Marvin Bartley
Manager: Sean Dyche

Blackburn Rovers

Paul Robinson; Adam Henley, Scott Dann, Grant Hanley, Martin Olsson; Jason Lowe, Danny Murphy; Mauro Formica (Simon Vukcevic 79), Colin Kazim-Richards, Morten Gamst Pedersen (Joshua King 55); Jordan Rhodes
Subs not used: Jake Kean (gk), Gael Givet, Markus Olsson, David Dunn, Ruben Rochina
Manager: Henning Berg

Bookings

Burnley – Michael Duff

Blackburn Rovers – Danny Murphy


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