It's them squirrels again, chewing through the pipes.

Whilst all the media have centred on the return to Ewood of Jon Stead, spare a thought for Blackburn’s Michael Gray. Born and brought up in Sunderland he signed and played for his home town club, for over 13 years before joining Rovers in January 2004. Tonight will be the first time that he will have played against Sunderland, knowing that a win for Rovers could hasten the departure of his home town clubs return to the Championship. After joining Rovers in January 2004 he quickly made his mark in helping Rovers to avoid relegation before falling out of favour with Mark Hughes last season resulting in a loan period at Leeds. However, this season he has re-established himself as first choice left back at Ewood and has become a fans favourite with his non stop work rate and attacking runs down the flanks. Speaking to Mirror columnist David Anderson, LINK Gray stated about his old club. "I'll always be a fan, I have fantastic memories and captaining the side as a local boy was a tremendous feeling. I don't like the position they're in, but business is business. I’m a Blackburn Rovers player now.” How ironic it would be if the three times capped England full back was to break his scoring duck tonight instead of the much publicised England under 21 striker. Rovers should have Pedersen, Dickov and Neill available for tonight’s game, however they will be without the suspended Tugay and Todd is a an injury doubt.

Early Team News

Rovers will be without Tugay for the Sunderland game tomorrow night at Ewood, due to being suspended, whilst there is a doubt about Andy Todd, who injured his knee against Middlesbbrough yesterday. However Rovers should have Pedersen, Dickov and Lucas Neill available.

Maybe this should be posted in the Dr Who topic, as we look into the future of the game. The tradition of attending football games has long gone. In fact football is now just a televised internet game. With ever increasing wages and transfer fees, cost of admission soared beyond the reach of the average supporter. Only sponsored corporate boxes were filled on a regular basis, resulting in clubs amalgamating. The famous names that had founded the football league have long gone, now there were regional teams such as Lancashire United, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, North London, and North East Warriors. With the ever increasing player contract fees, clubs consentrated on developing their own players, and with the assistance of science, clubs acquired momentoes of legendary players in order to obtain their d.n.a. for cloning them into a new generation of super teams. Players developed by this means were later generated into holograms and prior to each game at the touch of a remote control; armchair supporters were able to select their squads by remote control. Each game was controlled by the armchair supporter who paid an annual subscription of £1000 to the TV channel for the privilege. The actual movement of players on the field of play, set against a blue background, are controlled by the supporters using joy stick and goals are scored by the number of text votes received, between commercial breaks. Each period of play is set at 5 minute intervals allowing for a 15 minutes commercial break. In fact all events on the field of play are now controlled by a third eye and text. Action replays are shown from every angle and supporters are given 30 seconds to text a response. The 90 minute game has dissapeared and last until the next years subscription is due.

I'd be more confident if it was the academy that was playing.

A brace from Rovers flying Finn, Shefki Kuqi, gave Rovers all 3 points against Middlesbrough this afternoon. Shefki Kuqi scored his first when he rose to head Brett Emerton's left wing cross past Mark Schwarzer on 39 minutes, and made it 2 - 0 when he scored with a right-footed shot from the left side of six-yard box in the 79th minute. Half Time. Boro 0 Rovers 1 Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Queudrue, Riggott, Southgate, Rochemback,(Johnson 61)Pogatetz, Mendieta,(Hasselbaink 77) Doriva,(Kennedy 77)Yakubu, Parnaby, Viduka. Subs: Jones, Bates. Bookings: G Mendieta 21, C Riggott 45, F Queudrue 52, J Hasselbaink 80. Rovers: Friedel, Khizanishvili, Todd,(Mokoena 56) Nelsen, Gray, Thompson,(Reid 73) Tugay, Savage, Emerton, Bentley,( Bellamy 67)Kuqi. Subs: Enckelman,Peter. Bookings: Z Khizanishvili 9 Emerton 73.

kuqiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Link to message board greetings.

Match Report by Big A An odd game really, if we'd played like we did for the last half hour we'd have won easily, as it was we had more than enough chances. However on the basis of the first hour we didn't deserve anything though Fulham were little better for the most part. The first half was poor all round, we started perhaps slightly the better and Emerton missed a sitter when he headed wide in front of an opener goal. We were struggling to break down Fulham's defence especially with Bentley and Dickov up front. There was little physical presence (Knight easily contained Dickov) and for all the possesion we had we couldn't create anything. However defensively we looked shaky, Collins John and Radzinski both nearly scored when we failed to deal with long balls and the Fulham goal right before the end of the half was poor too. Boa Morte floated in a free kick and Todd allowed Bouba Diop to get in front of him far too easily to score. The second half started in a similar vein and Fulham again exposed our poor defending to score a pretty decent goal after some good passing football. Boa Morte with an excellent finish from Helgusson's cross. Shortly afterwards Kuqi appeared and from then on we were much better and controlled the game. Kuqi and Dickov were both clean through before being stopped by late offside flags, MGP's free kick hit the bar amongst numerous other attempts. Kuqi caused problems as did Thompson when he came on for possibly injured Pedersen. However once again we struggled to carve out clear cut openings and we were reduced to rather more hopeful efforts. It was fitting that the goal was an own goal, Knight kindly nodding in Dickov's cross, as it seemed that Rovers couldn't put the ball in the net at all. Dickov then shot just wide and forced a decent save from Crossley as Rovers tried to provide an equaliser. The game was pretty physical, Neill's challenge (which wasn't as bad as MOTD made out imo) was just one of several pretty poor challenges. Knight and Dickov both made nasty challenges on each other and Boa Morte did his usual best to wind up everyone and everything. If Kuqi had started things could have been very different however the defence was worryingly insecure. Neill did well enough, especially going forward, but Todd, Zura and Gray didn't impress. Emerton did ok without doing anything special while Tugay and MGP were in and out of the game rather. I thought Savage was one of our best players today, he did extremely well in midfield up against Diop and then Legwinski. Up front Dickov ran his heart out, causing problems for Fulham especially after Kuqi's arrival. Beforehand he hadn't had much service but looked better than Bentley who did much better when he switched to the right wing. I'd play him in front of Emerton next match, his skilful technique was more suited to the wing than the centre forward role where he was out muscled. The two substitutes Kuqi and Thompson both made an impact, Kuqi caused a lot of problems for Fulham as you'll have gathered though at times didn't quite have the ability to capitalise while Thompson added energy and drive as Rovers pushed forward in the last fifteen minutes. Bellamy could have made a big difference today I feel, with him playing we'd have made and converted more chances. Fulham: Crossley, Leacock, Knight, Goma, Rosenior, Radzinski, Diop (Legwinski 49), Christanval, Boa Morte (Elrich 90), McBride, John (Helguson 35). Subs Not Used: Warner, Pearce. Booked: Helguson, Knight, Radzinski, McBride. Goals: Diop 45, Boa Morte 52. Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Khizanishvili, Todd, Gray, Emerton (Kuqi 57), Tugay, Savage, Pedersen (Thompson 76), Bentley, Dickov. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Reid, Mokoena. Booked: Bentley, Dickov, Tugay, Neill. Goals: Knight 90 og. Att: 20,138. Ref: M Clattenburg

Match Report by Blue Blood The second half was the most entertaing I've seen for a while. We took two complete novices to the game with us, hoping that they'd be converted to the Blackburn cause, and at half time I was so embarrassed that they'd witnessed such a shocking display, I was convinced they'd be put off rovers and football for life. The first half started well enough the first 5 minutes or so we showed some really nice passing football, but after which we fizzled out. Our defence was woeful and struggled to cope: Zurab looked the most uncomfortable I've seen him all season, Neill clearly isn't a cb and Reid had no positional sense whatsoever. Gray didn't exactly cover himself with glory either. The west ham goal capped off what was a pretty dismal display. The second half however saw rovers true grit and determination, and dare I say attacking class show. The pen was a pen, albeit a soft one, but a foul is still a foul and if it's in the penalty area then the consequence is a penalty. Bit worried to see Dickov take it what with his record but he did the business. For the second Dickov showed a bit of class and why we persevere with him, with a great finish. Was rather chuffed to get involved in the darwin end celebrations too. As for the second goal we let in what terrible marking, especially Gray and Zurab. Was not happy at all; a new left back and the return of one of our comanding centre backs is vastly needed. I was a tad suprised when Emerton came off, his first half was absolutely shocking but he seemed to be getting into the game when he came off. However the sub was spot on, and Kuqi to me caused all sorts of problems even before he scored. As for his goal, it was a pretty decent finish, showing he has a bit more about him, and Dailly duely deserves the assist as he repaid a bit of his stupidly high transfer fee with his floundering about. On the subject of substituions I though Hughes got it spot on, the Axe adding steel when needed and Jansen doing the job of running down the clock. It really could have finished 4-3 and probably should have. Still on balance rovers deserved the win. Savage's free kicks were very hit and miss, two excellent ones but a fair few which were absolute rubbish, more consistency is needed or give them to MGP. Bentley after an anonymous first half did well in the second, both as a link up striker and right midfielder, very encouraging. Brad seemed to command his area well, and made a good save, which from the darwin end I thought had gone in, late on. All in all encouraging that we can score without Bellamy and our resiliance is still intact. However, we need to get the defence sorted out. Come back Nelsen and Todd. Rovers: Friedel, Reid, Neill, Khizanishvili, Gray, Emerton (Kuqi 61), Savage, Tugay (Mokoena 79), Pedersen, Bentley (Jansen 90), Dickov. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Thompson. Booked: Tugay, Gray, Dickov. Goals: Dickov 56 pen, 57, Kuqi 76. West Ham: Carroll, Repka, Ferdinand, Gabbidon (Dailly 21), Konchesky, Benayoun, Mullins, Noble (Bellion 61), Etherington, Harewood, Zamora (Aliadiere 76). Subs Not Used: Newton, Hislop. Booked: Noble, Konchesky, Repka, Ferdinand, Harewood, Carroll. Goals: Zamora 45, Harewood 63. Att: 20,370 Ref: M Riley

Tomorrow night, Monday 19th December, Rovers take on Tottenham Hotspur at Ewood Park in the 3rd round of the FA Youth Cup. Kick Off 7pm. Free entry for Season Ticket Holders, Non Season Ticket holders, £3 Adults, £1 Juniors and concessions.

Despite a last minute own goal by Fulham's Zak Knight, Rovers once again failed in their quest to gain an away league win in the capital. Goals from Diop just before half time and Luis Boa Morte just after the restart was enough to give Fulham all three points. Post match Mark Hughes stated, that Fulham had 3 efforts and scored 2, and that he believed that if Rovers had scored 10 minutes earlier then they would have got something out of the game. Unfortunately, the history books wont record what might have been only the result. Final Score Fulham 2 Rovers 1. Click here for Match Report

Rovers will play Middlesbrough in the Quarter Finals of the Carling Cup on Wednesday 21st December, kick off 8pm at the Riverside Stadium.

TORQUAY CHAIRMANS COMMENTS

The Waters Edge is located behind Albion Mill - where many of you may already use the match day car parks. If you are on foot or park elsewhere The Waters Edge is very easy to find from Ewood: From the ground walk straight up the hill towards Livesey Branch Road leaving MacDonald's on your left. At the top of the hill the road curves to the left, just before this bend on your right is Albion Street. Turn down Albion Street and you will find Albion Mill at the bottom. The Waters Edge is in the fenced grounds of the mill and behind the mill. Don't try to drive down Albion Street after the game

It is customary for www.brfcs.co.uk to have a get together after the last home game of the season and we don’t propose to break with tradition. This Saturday 10th December, see Rovers entertain West Ham in the last home fixture before Christmas and we propose to meet up at the Waters Edge after the game. As Blackburn Rovers Independent Supporters Association (BRISA) also proposed a pre Christmas get together, it has therefore been agreed to combine our Christmas festivities, as many of our members of both members of brfcs.co.uk and BRISA. This year we have changed the venue from the Blues Bar to the Waters Edge as in the past people have arrived in Blues Bar and not been able to find fellow brfcs.co.uk members. The Waters Edge has two rooms, separated by one set of doors. If entering by the lower entrance from the main car park you will be in the general bar area; steps to the upper room will be opposite. There will be BRISA committee members in this room throughout the evening, so please come and meet BRISA and your fellow brfcs.com members - we will be able to point folk out to you. Hopefully the team will give us something to celebrate.

Wigan away 31st December Wigan home 1st April.

Rovers have been drawn at Home against QPR in the FA Cup. The games will be played on the weekend 7th/8th January 2006.

Yesterday, I thought it was ball to hand and MOTD highlights would suggest ball to hand. But as Paul states if it had been the other way round by an Everton player my thoughts would clearly be different. Everyone will have their own opinion and that what makes the game so enjoyable. However, I cant see how certain people were so ready to be so critical of Todd. Maybe if he'd elbowed Beattie fair enough, but it was a hand ball (ball to hand)for petes sake.

Rovers were drawn away to Middlesbrough, in the Quarter Finals of the Carling Cup yesterday. Full Draw. Doncaster v Arsenal Birmingham v Man U Wigan v Bolton Middlesbrough v Rovers The draw for the 3rd Round of the FA Cup will be made this afternoon and broadcast live on BBC TV and Radio Five Live. The games to be played weekend 7/8th January 2006

Scotty's Match Report Just when I thought I could predict the team up pops Hughes with another interesting selection. When I first heard it I was sure we'd be playing 4-5-1 and matching Everton man for man, but it turned out that Bentley played as a second striker in a 4-4-2 formation. Thompson played wide-right and Reid came in for Savage in the middle. We started brilliantly. For the first 20 minutes we simply blew Everton away with a fantastic display of controlled attacking football. Bellamy constantly stretched their defence and got in behind them with intelligent runs, Tugay knitted our passing together in midfield, and we had a threat down both flanks with our full-backs linking up well with our wide-men. The only thing we didn't do was score. Pedersen missed a sitter in the first five minutes, he hit the post five minutes later, and we won numerous corners and free-kicks, but the goal just wouldn't come. Everton had to change their shape to cope with us, putting a defensive midfielder on Tugay and leaving Beattie isolated up front. And it worked. Our attacking play was slowly stifled and Everton started to come more into the game. For the next ten minutes nothing much happened as both teams cancelled each other out but then, totally out of the blue, Everton scored. And what a bad goal it was to concede. A long punt from their defence was missed by both Beattie and our defenders. The bouncing ball was then flicked on by Everton and McFadden beat Gray to subsequent bounce to nod past a poorly positioned Friedel. That's three 50-50 challenges that our defence lost in the lead up to the goal. Not good enough. Five minutes later came the defining moment of the match. More bad defending saw Beattie attempt to flick the ball past Todd. Now there's no doubt the ball hit Todd on the arm, and there's no doubt that Beattie would have been clean through had the ball not hit Todd on the arm, but there's also no doubt that Todd knew nothing about it and his handball was completely accidental. It wasn't even worthy of a booking. Sadly the linesman thought differently and clearly advised the ref to send Todd off. It's the second time that Halsey has wrongly cost us a game this season. The resulting free-kick nearly resulted in a goal, Arteta just firing wide, but Everton did go two up shorlty afterwards. We reshuffled our defence by moving Reid to right-back and Neill to centre-half but, ten men or no ten men, our defending was shocking again for Everton's second. Beattie again won another header, Osman held the ball up well unchallenged, and he placed a great ball straight into the path of Arteta who finished expertly. Game over. Zurab came on for Thompson at half-time which allowed Reid to go back to the centre of midfield and Neill back to right-back. We started the second half well and Pedersen missed another sitter when he failed to apply the finish to a great ball from Neill. Who knows what might have happened had that gone in, but that was as good as it got for us. We huffed and puffed, continually looked the better team, but Everton's extra man cost us in the end. Due to their extra numbers in midfield we continually hit the ball long and Everton's defenders just lapped it up. Strangely, Hughes waited until 15 minutes from the end to put Kuqi on, someone who might have been able to win some of the long balls we were playing, and by then it was too late. So, another game lost against a team I'm convinced we're better than. Our defence was poor today, and has been for a while. We lost too many headers and we allowed the excellent Beattie to bully us. Nelsen and Todd were equally culpable, as were the full-backs, and Friedel didn't exactly cover himself with glory on the first goal. We looked more solid when Zurab came on, but by then Everton were content to see the game out rather than attack for a third goal. We started well in midfield but faded badly. Tugay was majestic at first but, once Everton started to close him down, he disappeared. Reid was energetic and supported the attack well but all too often his passing and control let him down. Pedersen missed two sitters today and didn't do much else. Thompson just didn't do much. Emerton came on too late to really make an impact. Bellamy was excellent again and was easily our man of the match. Bentley started well, all good touches and neat passes, but faded when a more physical presence was needed after the sending off. Kuqi wasn't great when he came on but the game was over by then - he should have been on at least 15 minutes earlier. It's hard to sum up today's game as we were clearly the better team, yet we got beat 2-0. There's no doubt the sending off cost us dearly, but we also were guilty of giving two incredibly sloppy goals away. Our defending has been really poor recently and it needs to be addressed. Ultimately though I just left the game feeling angry that another crap team had beaten us. I also question Hughes's team selection and tactics. There's no way in my book that Reid is a better central midfielder than Savage. For all Savage's histrionics he can control and pass the ball far better than Reid. And there's no way that Bentley is a better striker than Kuqi. When I heard Bentley was playing I assumed he'd be the attacking midfielder in a 4-5-1 formation, but he played as an out an out striker today. Kuqi would have been a better bet in my opinion, and it was staggering that Hughes waited so long to bring Kuqi on. I also thought that Emerton should have come on a lot earlier than he did. We desperately needed someone in the second half to run with the ball and link our defence and attack, Emerton could have done that. We lost a crap team today, just like we did against Newcastle and Liverpool. We're in a run of winnable games and we need to start winning some, if not most, of them to prove that we're as good as I think we are. I'm not worrying yet but next weeks game is looking like an awfully big one now. Rovers : Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Gray, Thompson (Khizanishvili 45), Reid, Tugay (Kuqi 66), Pedersen, Bentley (Emerton 83), Bellamy. Subs Not Used: Savage, Enckelman. Sent Off: Todd (31). Booked: Bellamy. Everton: Martyn (Wright 45), Hibbert, Yobo, Weir, Neville, Osman, Arteta (Kilbane 63), Davies, Van der Meyde (Ferguson 58), Beattie, McFadden. Subs Not Used: Kroldrup, Bent. Booked: Arteta. Goals: McFadden 28, Arteta 45. Att: 22,064 Ref: M Halsey

Rovers 0 Everton 2 Rovers paid the price of missed early chances, for after having dominating the first 20 minutes of the game, Rovers took a sucker punch when against the run of play Everton’s James McFadden scored with a header. Despite this set back, Rovers had been so much in control of the game, that an equaliser was surely on the cards, that is, until referee Mark Halsey brandished a card of his own to Andy Todd, that infuriated supporters in the Blackburn End of the ground who had seen no intent by Todd, when a Beattie hit the ball at close range at the defender. It was evident that Halsey hadn’t clearly seen the incident as he needed to consult his linesman before deciding to issue to Todd with a red card. The loss of Todd, clearly affected the Rovers and before they could rearrange their defensive line up, Mikel Arteta’s shot from the edge of the box to beat the stranded Friedel in the Rovers goalmouth. In his post match comments about the sending off Rovers manager Mark Hughes was reported as saying. "I thought it was harsh,'' "Beattie flicked the ball into Andy's body and as he tried to adjust his position, he clipped it with his hand but you can't say there was any intent. That's the second sending off we have had this season with Mark Halsey in charge so you can say he is not the most popular guy around here at the moment.'' Halsey last month sent off defender Zurab Khizanishvili when Rovers lost 1-0 at Anfield, although that red card was later rescinded, by the FA. Match Report

4x4 have their uses.

This afternoons game against Everton could be an anti climax after Wednesday nights spirited fightback against Charlton, with Everton battling for points it could be a tight game, needing an early goal to set the agenda, otherwise it could easily turn out a goal less draw; or a single goal win, which is often the case when we play the toffee men. To be honest I cant remember an exciting game between Rovers and Everton apart from the 2-1win in the championship season at Goodison, when Colin Hendry threw his body into blocking every shot like a Roman Gladiator battling for his life at the coliseum. This current squad of players assembled by Mark Hughes, in many ways resemble that Hendry never say die attitude and even though there may not be many goals this afternoon, fans can be certain of a battling performance as the Rovers attempt to extend their unbeaten home run of 5 games. After the splendid fight back against Charlton it would be cruel to drop any of the players that finished the game, however Mark Hughes will have the luxury of having Tugay available after missing the last two games with a calf injury plus Lucas Neill and Paul Dickov, who missing Wednesdays Carling Cup win due to injury. Supporters views on this afternoons game - click here