Rovers 5 Wolves 1

[Alan75]

A hot sunny warm afternoon in Lancashire brought out the fans, for Blackburn’s first game of the season, and with Wolves playing their first game in the Premier League, they brought a large contingent of supporters with them. Wolves supporters being allocated the upper tier and part of the lower tier of the Darwen End.

Although new summer signings Lorenzo Amoruso and Brett Emerton where making their Premier League debuts, the player that got the biggest cheer from the Ewood faithfull when the team was announced was Matt Jansen, who made his first Premier League start since his road traffic accident more than 12 months ago.

Unlike previous seasons against lower clubs, Blackburn stamped their class and premier league pedigree on the game from the whistle, and did not drop their standard to the level off the opposition.

With Rovers in rampant mood they attacked the Wolves from the start, with Emerton linking well with Lucas Neill, and his ability to make telling crosses from the dead ball line at will, the first goal was inevitable. Around the quarter hour mark an Emerton corner was headed home by Ameruso, who had evaded the advancing Wolves keeper to rocket his first goal for the club in to the back of the net.

Prior to the half hour mark Rovers had gone further ahead, when Thompson and Jansen exchanges passes allowing Thompson to volley past the Wolves keeper from 25 yards.

Wolves attempted to get back in to the game before half time but Brad Friedel was still displaying the form that had made him the top premier league keeper during last season.

Half time 2-0.

The second half kicked off in similar vein, and a fine movement between Emerton and Tugay resulted in Yorke putting the ball in the back off the net, only to have the linesman to rule it offside. Rovers undaunted soon capitalised on a shaky Wolves defence within 10 minutes of the kick off with Yorke side stepping to allow Emerton to score from 25 yards.

With Rovers in command and against the run of play, Wolves pulled one back when Iverson was first to a rebound off the post to blast the ball past Friedel.

With around 16 minutes left of the game Souness substituted Jansen with Andy Cole, who wasted no time in claiming his first goal of the season within 5 minutes of being on the pitch, after fine work by Tugay. Then grabbing his second of the afternoon with only 3 minutes of the game remaining.

Having gained a 4 goal cushion Rovers were now in total command, with players having time to wave back at the crowd as the fans chanted out their names.

For once the atmosphere at Ewood was electric, with the majority of the ground in full vocal support throughout the game, without “Get in to them” being chanted once.

The best chant of the afternoon being “Have you been to Tommy Balls”, a chant directed towards a Wolves substitute who had a pair of fluorescent crimson boots.

Full Time 5-1

Rovers: Friedel, Gresko, Martin Taylor, Amoruso, Neill, Thompson (Grabbi 80), Flitcroft, Tugay, Emerton, Yorke, Jansen (Cole 74).

Subs not used: Johansson, Todd, Kelly.

Booked: Thompson.

Wolves: Murray, Irwin, Craddock, Butler, Naylor, Newton (Camara 86), Cameron, Ince, Silas (Blake 59), Iversen, Sturridge (Luzhny 73).

Subs not used: Rae, Oakes.

Booked: Blake.

Attendance: 26,270.

Referee: J Winter (Cleveland).