The Joy of (Twenty-)Sixth? Rovers / Boxing Day

[LeverEnd]

Brilliant that. Home now and pissed wet through but delighted.
Blackburn were a good side and we showed real guts to get a win out of that. They deserved to be ahead at the break and it could have been more, their front line gave our defence a hard time but they toughed it out. Having said that the lad was clearly offside for their goal. Real character shown in the 2nd half and great to see Emile shut the jeering dingles up. Chungy was superb again, Eidur didn't have a lot of the ball but looks class when he gets it, Pratley and Danns played well and worked their socks off 2nd half. Vela and Ream played well too. Disappointed by Hall again, not terrible, but just lacking in a way I can't put my finger on.
How Blackburn didn't score from one goalmouth scramble 2nd half is an absolute mystery to me.
All in all, a classic battle of a game with some classy football at times from both sides, Blackburn will be still wondering how they managed to lose it really, which is great!

[Hoboh]

That ball from Eiderdown was superb!

[plymouth wanderer]

That ball from Eiderdown was superb!

It was..... Lovely outside the boot

[Peter Thompson]

Forgot to say Lonergan was again excellent, especially 1st half as they could have been 2 or 3 up. He hurt his back early on but kept going, he's playing very well at the moment.

[thebish]

maybe Big Sam's old schtick of picking up faded has-beens with summat to prove is not a dead-duck as has often been claimed!

[enrdentw]

Fantastic sub at half time (Heskey on for Hall). It didn't take a genius to see that we needed someone to hold it up and take away some pressure from the Middle two and the back four and that plan worked a treat a changed the game IMO.

It is difficult to put special praise on anyone but extra credit must go to Pratley. He was my MOTM. Never stopped and left absolutely everything on the pitch. His link up play, tackling, passing and work rate were superb, topped off with the match winner. In addition he took a ball to the face to stop a goal and also took an absolute clattering from the Heskey Express!

Heskey needs to learn to jump for headers on the way down rather then when the ball is on the way up. Gudjohnson was a really catalyst and got our attacks started and showed composure when it was needed. Great assist for Heskeys tap in. Eidur was on his arse before he came off, constantly coughing.

Blackburn looked like scoring every time they went forward in the first half. They missed a lot of chances. Bolton missed a few clear cuts but Blackburn deservedly lead at the break.

It was a fantastic game, good crowd and there is certainly that "feel good factor" around the place. It was great to see the reaction of the players at the end who looked fully appreciative of the big home crowd who got behind the team for the full 90.


The match report for the game could go on forever there was that many chances and talking points.

[LeverEnd]

Just read that Heskey's last goal was against Blackburn as well, and he has 17 in 31 games against them! And they were taking the piss when he came on. Bellends.

[William the White]

A brilliantly exciting derby - for once. There have been some duds against the Dingles over the years...

It was a privilege to watch Eidur today - time after time he spots the pass quickly and moves the ball on. His contribution to the equaliser was outstanding.

But the will to work, fight, keep going, the determination and physical commitment spreads through the whole team.

Today, and especially in the second half, no one did that better than Pratley.

Motm!

Blackburn are pushing hard for the play offs. And we beat them. Ipswich are looking seriously at promotion. And we held them.

This is a barely credible transformation.

But just brilliant.

[Prufrock]

72yrs of footballing awesomeness combine to provide our equaliser!

73, maths man .

Was a cracking goal in a weird game. Didn't play particularly well and they really should have got something from it. Rhodes hit the post with a header (having ran off towards the corner flag to celebrate, wanker ). He also inexplicably missed a 1v1. Lonners made two class saves first half too. For their goal, we got caught trying to play offside on a flick on that didn't come as Dervite got under the ball. King would defo have been offside if Rhodes had touched it, but don't know if he was when it was originally lumped forward (and they know how to lump it forward!). We've been caught out a few times with straight balls over the top and 3rd man runs we don't track. Millwall's penalty appeal came from one too. Needs sorting. Took it well tbf, but even if he was offside we'd had several warnings.

We had a few chances of our own first half too, Eidur missing a v good chance and we had what in other games might be classed as a goalmouth scramble go wide, though I think they'd already been given a free. We showed good moments but were obviously lacking a focal point up top. Heskey came on an made a difference. Looked a lot quicker than I expected (though Blackburn's centre-halves helped in that respect). Eidur's ball for his goal was awesome. Chungy had one spectacularly cleared off the line before Pratz stuck away Mills' nod-back. They then spent the next 25 minutes hoiking it into the box at any opportunity. F*ck me. Proper stand up and be counted defending including the again excellent Pratz taking one full in the chops. Rode our luck too with the most ridiculous goal-line scramble somehow staying out, and Rhodes having one disallowed for not a lot.

Oh well, a win is a win, and that's now over 2ppg I think.

[thebish]

72yrs of footballing awesomeness combine to provide our equaliser!

73, maths man .

errrr.... in one of those years Eidur had a broken leg and couldn't play! 72!

[freeindeed]

A draw would have been a fairer result...oh well

Eidur - was classy, great signing.

Lonners - fantastic barring one flapped at cross that almost cost a goal.

Vela - Good overall but seems worringly short of pace

Hall - tried hard, and took them on but still seems too lightweight and generally just lost the ball.

Feeney & Pratley played very well.

Danns - On several occasions got caught in posession trying to be too clever in dangerous areas, but improved 2nd half.

Trotter - Interesting that he came on ahead of Spearing?!

Heskey - tried hard, but looked really out of shape and completely knackered. Still a goal is a goal is a goal.

[EverSoYouri]

Emile Heskey. I don't think any of us ever really doubted him, did we?

Midfield was being swamped for much of the first half (partly because Danns hasn't really grasped that role in front of the back four, yet, and partly because we had no one to hold the ball up front). Good chances at either end, but I thought they could claim to be worth the half-time lead. (Incidentally, I don't think their goal was offside. Mills stepped up too late - it was significant that only Danns went to remonstrate with the linesman afterwards).
Hall, I thought, played pretty well, but Heskey's introduction turned the game for us. Their centre backs had had such an easy time of it in the first half, they didn't know what to do when they had to deal with a brick shithouse - who can also play a bit!
The run and pass from Eidur to set up the equaliser were majestic. Doubt if there's another player in this division (and not that many in the one above) who could have done it.

After Pratley scored we might just have buried them, but that moment passed and we dug deep and hung on. Excellent day.

[Beefheart]

What a season this is turning out to be. If someone had told me in August that we'd beat Blackburn on Boxing day with Heskey getting a goal and an assist and Gudjohnsen getting an assist I'd have thought they were mad.

Id have said “Stop following Alan Nixon on Twitter, you nob”.

Great game to be at today.

[a1]

Pratley LOLOLOLOL !!

i'll be richer than mitch caine(d) if he keeps this up.

# Play Pratley Up Front For The LOLZ Guaranteed Wins

[plymouth wanderer]

Are we gonna fear the Manager of the month award????? Assuming lennon gets it ofcourse

[Montreal Wanderer]

72yrs of footballing awesomeness combine to provide our equaliser!

73, maths man .

They are both 36 - Heskey won't be 37 until next month. Still I'm sure you'll find some wiggle room.

[Always hopeful]

I can't really add to what's already been said. Brilliant game, great result, superb atmosphere. Amazing transformation. Long may it continue.

First time in probably 2 years that I've got home with a rough voice from shouting so much. COYWM!!

[twilight]

What a match!! I am just buzzing still> just echoing what everybody else has said. Just end to end stuff and could have ended any scoreline. Pratley was immense as was Lonergan, but the team as a whole are just fighting for each other and never give up. Atmosphere was something I havent heard for a long time.

Long may it continue and off to Huddersfield we go with confidence

[Bruce Rioja]

Everybody's talking about the transformation of Chungy under Lennon, which, whilst remarkable, we always knew that there was a good player somewhere in there anyway. It's the transformation of Darren Pratley that is absolutely stunning me. He's gone from something of a joke of a player to being an absolute midfield linchpin. Today, amongst several good performances, he was utterly outstanding.

[Bijou Bob]

If someone had told me 4 months ago, that Bruce would be calling Pratley an outstanding midfield lynchpin, I'd have had them sectioned.....

Loved Lennon's post match interview. It sounds like a good bollocking was handed out at half time. Fair play to him for not pulling punches ("Some of them were still thinking about Christmas dinner") and most importantly, for recognising the problem and sorting it at half time.