[Archived] News Article -> 2012/13 Match Report: Rovers 1 Charlton Athletic 2

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Blackburn Rovers	(0) 1 – 2 (1)	Charlton Athletic
Rhodes 48		Stephens 26, Kermorgant 64
Referee: D. Coote		Attendance: 13,647

On an afternoon when the Rovers slipped to their sixth home defeat of the season and the gap between themselves and the play-off places stretched to ten points, it proved to be a daunting introduction to Ewood Park for Michael Appleton. The manager was quite forthright in his post-match views on Radio Rovers and summed up the feelings of many of the dwindling Ewood faithful when he explained that a number of the players were struggling to cope with the pressure of being the club that everyone wants to beat. He promised changes for Tuesday's match against Brighton & Hove Albion and one can only hope he will be true to his word, for this bunch of overpaid prima donnas clearly have little heart for the battle.

All too often this season an opposition that has been organised and hardworking has had little difficulty in leaving Ewood Park with some reward. By contrast the "tricks and flicks" of the Ewood "Fancy Dans" have been exposed for what they are — a triumph of style over substance and totally inadequate for Championship football.

Having played the same number of games as sixth-placed Watford, the Rovers find themselves not only ten points adrift but some 15 goals inferior in terms of goal difference. To all intents and purposes the season is now over and that will surely be reflected in a continuing decline in attendances. All that Appleton can do is take the next few months to assess his playing resources and then look to make changes in the summer if the owners are prepared to back him. However, it appeared that today the owners were only prepared to back him for sixty-odd minutes before scurrying away.

Perhaps the warm Lancashire welcome from Rovers fans when they arrived convinced them not to hang around. Having seen this family oversee the destruction of the club that Jack Walker built, the fans gave vent to their feelings when the Rao family disembarked from their vehicles and headed for the entrance. The snowball which hit Mr Desai in the face carried a message more succinct than any communication with the global advisor, namely that there is little or no hope of redemption for this family in this town.

Michael Appleton could well have done without the presence of the owners at his first match in charge at Ewood Park as the atmosphere was soured from the very outset. Wisely, Appleton kept faith in the same players who had responded so well to Gary Bowyer during his temporary spell at the helm.

The Rovers started fairly brightly with Ruben Rochina seeing plenty of possession. However, once again the young Spaniard managed to run up an increasing number of blind alleys. Quite why he can't seem to grasp the simple concept of passing the ball when under pressure is difficult to fathom. Of course, when he isn't dribbling himself into ever decreasing circles, he likes nothing better than a long-range effort and his first strike from distance was well off target.

The closest the Rovers came to opening the scoring was when Colin Kazim-Richards rose to meet a corner from Rochina but only succeeded in heading straight into the waiting arms of Ben Hamer. From that point on Rochina became increasingly inept, while Kazim-Richards appeared to lose interest and spent the rest of the half petulantly strolling around as if the whole affair was somehow beneath him.

Not that these two were the only culprits during a woeful first forty-five minutes. Danny Murphy and Jason Lowe made little or no impact in the centre of midfield, Simon Vukcevic flitted in and out of the game without ever looking the part on the right wing, while Martin Olsson did a passable impression of a guy looking for the exit door.

It came as no surprise when Charlton took the lead on 26 minutes. A ball from the right was played into the area, but Olsson failed to clear it properly and somehow managed to set it up perfectly for Dale Stephens to unleash an unstoppable 20-yard volley which flew into the top corner of the net. There was nothing Jake Kean could do to keep it out and for the second week in succession fingers were pointed at the Swedish international left-back.

The visitors might and perhaps should have doubled their lead just two minutes later following a goalmouth scramble. Kean parried a shot from Johnnie Jackson and Yann Kermorgant's follow-up was cleared off the line as the Rovers scrambled the ball clear.

The Rovers faithful became increasingly frustrated with what they were witnessing as the visitors had little difficulty in protecting their lead to the half-time whistle.

At the start of the second period Appleton made a tactical switch with Kazim-Richards being moved into the centre to support Rhodes, whilst Rochina moved out to the left flank. The former Turkish international started to make a welcome impact on the game when his cross was met by Rhodes at the near post, but unfortunately the ball ended up wide of the target.

On 48 minutes the same combination proved more successful when Kazim-Richards fired a low cross into the area and Rhodes dived full length to glance his header past Hamer into the bottom corner of the net. For older supporters it was the sort of header that was a reminder of the cult figure that was Jim Fryatt!!!

Charlton might well have regained the lead almost immediately, but fortunately they didn't — thanks to good work from Jake Kean, who raced from his goal to block a shot from Bradley Pritchard, and a piece of good fortune, when Stephens picked up the loose ball and fired it wide of an empty net.

A neat piece of interplay between Kazim-Richards and Murphy ended with Hamer diving low to the foot of a post to turn the Turkish international's shot wide.

On 64 minutes the visitors took the lead with the type of goal that has been conceded with alarming regularity this season. A ball played into the Rovers box after Rochina and Vukcevic had failed to keep possession saw Kermorgant rise above the static defence and send a powerful header into the bottom corner of the net with Kean unable to reach it. Once again, the 'keeper was left badly exposed by a centre-back pairing which has been far too easily dominated whenever the ball has been crossed into the penalty area this season.

The owners chose this moment to make their exit and this was greeted with ironic chants of "Cheerio" by supporters who have become increasingly disenchanted with the cavalier attitude shown by the owners to this historic football club. They left the ground with the chants of "There's Only One Jack Walker" ringing in their ears. How it must irk them to know that whilst they might destroy his legacy, the esteem in which he is held amongst Rovers fans will never by touched by the chicken conglomerate from India.

The remainder of the game was played out amidst increasing indifference by the players and increasing frustration by the fans. The visitors were able to defend their lead with little trouble and when Olsson fired a late effort embarrassingly high over the bar, there were many fans who would have happily driven him to Big Sam at West Ham in exchange for a couple of million!

Appleton was left to reflect on a hugely disappointing performance, which one suspects he knows signals the end of any real push for the final play-off place. His post-match interview was harsh but bang on the money and hopefully he will start to make the changes which this club so clearly needs.

Perhaps five managers in as many months is the reason why so many of the players look so disinterested in it all. The realisation that they are participating in what has become a national farce may be the reason why some have now seemingly thrown in the towel and appear to be barely pretending to go through the motions any more. For a few games Gary Bowyer and Terry McPhillips had been able to restore some professional pride, but there were signs at Molineux last week that it was beginning to wane and today we went back to square one.

Jake Kean was one of the few who came out of the game with some credit. He could do little about either goal and kept us in the game with more than one decent stop. The lad has huge potential, but like Paul Bradshaw before him one suspects that his potential will probably be fully realised elsewhere.

Todd Kane was awarded the Man of the Match award and, in fairness, he had one or two bright moments that caught the eye. The fact that he is young, learning his trade and has been loaned out to us to give him first team experience says everything about the direction in which the Rovers are heading — a training ground for other clubs' youngsters. Welcome to the reality of the wonderful world of Venky's.

Martin Olsson at left-back looked like a player who desperately wanted to be elsewhere and after another indifferent performance one suspects that many fans will be only too happy to see him depart.

The centre-back pairing of Grant Hanley and Scott Dann again demonstrated that they can do most things apart from defend crosses into the area. One might have thought that this was a fairly basic requirement of a centre-back, but apparently not. As someone brought up watching the colossus that was Matt Woods, one can only weep at what the art of defending has now come to at Ewood Park.

Danny Murphy struggled to make any impression against one of his former clubs. Murphy is a reminder of times gone by when former ageing stars would turn up at Ewood Park for one last payday living on past reputations. John Radford, John Aston and Alan Birchenall are just three that readily spring to mind and one suspects that Murphy will duly take his place in this very select group.

Jason Lowe seems to have cemented a permanent place in the centre of midfield, but regular watchers of reserve-team football over the years might ask if he is any better than a string of youngsters — Bryan Hodge, Ian Black, Adam Nelson to name but three — who have been axed without being given similar opportunities. Lowe is fortunate that there is such a dearth of midfield talent at the club at the moment that he can maintain a regular place after some indifferent performances.

Simon Vukcevic showed flashes of what he can do, but once again he found himself on the periphery of the game far too much. Surely this guy deserves the chance to operate in the centre of midfield where he can be involved more and have a greater opportunity to influence the game. He could be the ideal box-to-box player if given the chance.

Ruben Rochina was at his most frustrating in this match. Incapable of making a simple pass, Rochina never failed to take the opportunity to try to dribble past three players before losing possession. When he was eventually hauled off, it was greeted with cheers of blessed relief from the Ewood faithful. This lad has a huge amount of talent, but unless someone can harness it into a team ethic, then it will surely go to waste.

Colin Kazim-Richards had a couple of bright moments at the start of the second half but for the rest of the game looked completely disinterested. There is no doubt that Rhodes looks a better player when Kazim-Richards plays further forward, but the attitude on display in this game was questionable at best.

Jordan Rhodes scored a splendid goal. It highlighted his penalty area predatory instincts to the full and again highlighted what he can do if he gets the right sort of service. However, he rarely gets that type of service and the rest of his game offers little by comparison. He is deceptively slow. The ball over the top is not an option because of his lack of pace. He can't work the channels and his hold-up play is not the best. Nonetheless, given the ball in the area he can finish with the best of them. One can only wonder how many goals he might score if a team was constructed that could play to his strengths rather than his weaknesses.

Morten Gamst Pedersen and Nuno Gomes made appearances as substitutes, but by then the game had gone and neither made any impact.

The crowd of 13,647 looked more than a little optimistic given the mass of empty seats behind me in the Jack Walker Upper. Looking around at the sparsely populated Darwen End and the far from full Riverside and Blackburn End, one can only assume that a good many season-ticket holders had opted to stay away for one reason or another.

How the owners react to their latest visit to Blackburn remains to be seen. Do they continue to support the manager with more funds knowing that they will never be accepted as true custodians of Jack Walker's legacy or do they jump ship and look for a buyer? Either way one suspects that there are troubled times ahead at Ewood Park and that the experience that Michael Appleton gained at Portsmouth may yet come in useful at Blackburn.

Teams

Blackburn Rovers

Jake Kean; Todd Kane, Scott Dann, Grant Hanley, Martin Olsson; Simon Vukcevic (Morten Gamst Pedersen), Jason Lowe, Danny Murphy, Colin Kazim-Richards; Ruben Rochina (Nuno Gomes 78); Jordan Rhodes
Subs not used: Sebastian Usai (gk), Gael Givet, Josh Morris, David Goodwillie, Diogo Rosado
Manager: Michael Appleton

Charlton Athletic

Ben Hamer; Chris Solly, Matt Taylor, Michael Morrison, Cedric Evina; Lawrie Wilson (Callum Harriott 90), Bradley Pritchard, Johnnie Jackson, Dale Stephens, Scott Wagstaff (Dorian Dervite 79); Yann Kermorgant
Subs not used: David Button (gk), Danny Green, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Rhoys Wiggins, Ricardo Fuller
Manager: Chris Powell

Bookings

Blackburn Rovers – None

Charlton Athletic – None


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