The Rovers Return

Kalinic celebrates scoring with Olsson and Pedersen

Tonight Rovers lost their sixth semi-final out of seven in the past eight years. But, as the disappointment sets in, Rovers fans can hold their heads high.

Blackburn Rovers tonight contested what will surely go down in history as a classic. Ten goals. A penalty. A red card. This game had it all.

And, had it not been for that red card, Rovers could well have booked their place in the Carling Cup Final.

It was great to see Kalinic fire home twice, even if neither goal was pretty. Those goals will undoubtedly give the Croatian’s confidence an almighty boost, which will come in handy with some massive games against sides close to us in the table coming up.

We also need Niko in form if Benni moves on, especially after West Ham declared their interest in the forward today. That’s a move that, if offered to McCarthy, I can’t see him turning down.

Unfortunately I watched the game over a computer at work while trying to churn out pages of the Scunthorpe Telegraph, so my judgement was blurred. But many Rovers fans have been complaining that there was a foul leading up to Villa’s first goal. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen it, but I’ll stand by my fellow fans and say, “What was the ref playing at?!”… Read more »

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Sam Allardyce reacts to another near miss.

As I said after the Manchester City match, ‘it’s just so predictable’.

I also said, ‘abandon optimism all ye who enter here,’ and nothing’s changed after our latest farcical episode.

One up front. Long balls. It just doesn’t work. But it doesn’t change either.

Yes, the second half was an improvement, but it’s hard not to improve on a first half that bad. Yes, we were unlucky hitting the post twice, but had they sneaked into the net it wouldn’t have been at all justified.

Rovers were beaten, convincingly, by the better team on the night. There is a second leg to contest, but given our away form this season we haven’t a cat in hell’s chance!

Villa’s goal was poor. We’ve seen it time and time again, going all the way back to Robbie Blake’s opener for Burnley all those months ago. The opposition attacker comes forward completely unopposed, able to play the ball exactly how he pleases. Then, having played it out to the right, James Milner then wanders through the middle of the Rovers box, no defender batting an eyelid, before slotting the ball home from close range with Chimbonda and co looking bemused and mouthing, “Where did he come from?” Read more »

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Tonight’s League Cup semi-final against Aston Villa has been called off due to the bad weather conditions.

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Benni McCarthy takes on Villa's Gareth Barry at Ewood Park last February.

In what is fast-becoming another season to forget, tomorrow’s semi-final first leg against Villa could really be the most important game of our season.

Two-legged ties offer the bonus of a guaranteed home fixture, and Rovers must find some goals tomorrow to stand a chance of a trip to Wembley.

With a visit to Villa Park – the scene of our second string’s FA Cup humiliation on Saturday – just a fortnight away for the second leg, we need to ensure we have a good lead to take into the return leg.

Big Sam has a near full strength side to choose from. David Dunn is still available and, you’d hope, more match fit after his 55 minutes at Villa on Saturday. Brett Emerton also returns to the side, he has been badly missed after picking up a groin injury. Brett has been in excellent form since his recovery from injury and his return is welcomed!

The perennially injured Vince Grella is out while thick as shit El-Hadji Diouf begins his three-match suspension after Saturday’s red card.

Allardyce has said that Saturday’s game will have no bearing on this match and I hope that’s true. The FA Cup tie was a totally different situation to the one we face tomorrow. We went into Saturday seemingly with the brief that we must not win at any cost. We would probably have been as well forfeiting the game altogether with the never-say-live attitude displayed on the pitch. Read more »

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Familiar face. Villa manager Martin O'Neill is eyeing a triple-whammy over Rovers this month.

Happy new year.

We now embark on a new decade, hopeful of an upturn in Rovers fortunes, and ‘looking forward’ to three (yes, bluddy three) games against Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa.

Today’s FA Cup tie at Villa Park, which I’m not overly confident about and not too bothered about either, will be followed by a much more important game against the Villains on Tuesday night.

That game, the first of a two-legged Carling Cup semi-final at Ewood, represents a real chance at some glory for Rovers, whereas the FA Cup third round is a decent distraction from league football, but not a realistic opportunity to win a trophy if we’re honest.

Big Sam will almost certainly have one eye on Tuesday’s game when he send out his side for today, so I would expect key players to be rested and can’t expect David Dunn to feature if he is indeed fit enough now after injury.

Unfortunately, the response from Rovers fans has been poor for this game. Unsurprising given the nature of our recent performances. But as of yesterday Rovers had sold only 11,000 tickets for the game, with Villa already selling out their allocation.

I’m being a hypocrite for this one as, due to work commitments, I am unable to get over for it. But I implore you, if you can get down there, do it. Rovers need you. Read more »

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My ticket collection from the 2001/02 Worthington Cup run.

Bobatron, this one’s for you. Admittedly, I should have looked this up before you mentioned it…

Rovers have been included in the running for best League Cup moment, a competition celebrating 50 years of the competition, for beating Spurs 2-1 in the 2001/02 final.

Vote here.

For anyone who doesn’t remember, or doesn’t know, in 2001/02 Rovers were struggling. We’d just been promoted back to the Premiership after a two-year absence and were embroiled in a bit of a relegation battle.

The Worthington Cup, as the League Cup, now the Carling Cup, was then known, provided us with a welcome distraction from the difficulties of league football, and, ultimately, gave us the boost we needed to mount a late surge into the top half of the table, where we eventually finished 10th.

It was a great cup run, one I was lucky enough to go to every match of, starting with Oldham Athletic, where fewer than 10,000 saw Matt Jansen and Darren Dunning (remember him? He now plays for Gainsborough Trinity) score in a 2-0 win, with Marcus Bent sent off in the last minute.

Middlesbrough followed, as did another crowd of just fewer than 10,000. This one went to extra time as Craig Hignett, the former Boro midfielder, put Rovers ahead, only for Nemeth to equalise. Craig Short rescued us from the brink of penalties with a winner in the 113th minute. Read more »

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England's number one! Paul Robinson is a hero

Wow, what a night, and I didn’t even go.

Before you start shouting at me for being a part time supporter and all that, I finished work at 6:30pm, more than two hours from Blackburn! But boy, do I wish I could have been there.

I hope Sam gave this one a miss, otherwise his heart may have taken a bashing. Taking the lead came as a surprise, and when we were 1-0 up at half time I was feeling quietly confident we’d hang on. How nice was it to see Nikola Kalinic score as well? More of the same please Niko, if we ever see you play again…

Cue a Chelsea shake-up and we were 2-1 down pretty quickly. That’s it, we’re going to get steamrollered. Oh ye of little faith.

A shock equaliser, plus a disallowed goal, which I haven’t seen a proper replay of, saw us take the league leaders into extra time.

Then, an almighty shock as we are awarded a penalty! And Benni scores it! 120 minutes passes and it looks like we may have sealed the victory. Then, in the dying moments, Robbo flaps at the ball, his poor punch fins Ferreira and it’s 3-3 and penalties. Read more »

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That’s right. I have it on good authority…

Okay, so I have no proof to back up this outlandish statement. But it seems obvious to me that there’s some jiggery-pokery going on before cup draws, especially when they reach their later stages.

The FA will obviously prefer to see the ‘Big Four’ reaching the later rounds, and preferably meeting each other in the final. And surely it’s no coincidence that the draws tend to see them avoiding each other…

This all sounds like the bitter ramblings of a man who’s team has just been drawn against a Chelsea side that hammered them 5-0 recently. And to some extent, yes, that’s it.

But I maintain that, with eight teams in the draw, three of which come from the Big Four – Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea – yet none of them draw each other:

United v Spurs
Portsmouth v Villa
Rovers v Chelsea
Man City v Arsenal Read more »

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Michel Salgado celebrates his first goal for Rovers.

Headline copyright Richard Boardman (2009)

Rovers showed their class by brushing aside Championship strugglers Peterborough to avoid any cup embarrassment and progress through to the League Cup quarter finals.

Despite having players quarantined because of the swine flu illness that swept through the side, goals from Pedersen, Reid, Salgado, McCarthy and Kalinic ensured an entertaining cup tie ended in success for Rovers.

It’s great to see all of those names on the scoresheet.

Pedersen finally reminding us what he’s capable of from a dead ball situation. Reidy grabbing himself one, despite it being a penalty, after all that has been said in the press recently. Salgado has been far from impressive so far, but his goal that restored Rovers lead after we’d been pegged back twice was a lovely finish from a tight angle. Benni hasn’t featured much this season but his goal showed he’s still got the finishing touch. While £6-million future of Croatian football Nikola Kalinic finally got on the scoresheet (yes, another penalty) which should work wonders for his confidence!

It was also good to throw all those smug comments from Fergie Jnr well-and-truly back in his face.

On top of that, Sam was able to run the rule over a number of fringe players, whether he wanted to or not. Jason Brown, Michel Salgado, Phil Jones, Martin Olsson, Junior Hoilett, Brett Emerton, Steven Reid, Benni McCarthy and Nikola Kalinic all started the game. Read more »

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From the Peterborough Evening Telegraph:

By Alan Swann

League Cup (first round), September 11, 1961: POSH have only played Rovers once in the Football League Cup and that was 48 years ago. Third Division Posh went down 3-1 at the home of top-flight opposition in the first round of the 1961-62 competition.

Billy Hails opened the scoring for Posh in the 15th minute after good work by Dennis Emery, but Ian Lawther (2) and Bryan Douglas ensured there would be no shock.

Posh boss Jimmy Hagan had caused a shock with his team selection for a Monday night fixture dropping Norman Rigby and Peter McNamee after a dismal team performance in a 6-2 defeat at Bradford Park Avenue 48 hours earlier.

Posh: Ronson, Whittaker, Walker, Rayner, Ripley, Stafford, Hails, Emery, Bly. Smith, Sheavills.

Blackburn: Else, Bray, Newton, Clayton, Woods, McGrath, Isherwood, Crowe, Pickering, Douglas, Laverty.

And Posh have only played Blackburn twice in the Football League. Rovers won the Third Division title in the 1974-75 season, but Posh beat them 1-0 home and away.

Jeff Lee’s first-half penalty following a foul on David Price was enough to secure victory at Ewood Park after a Freddie Hill (right) goal won the game at London Road.

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