English Premier League – Match Review: Blackburn Rovers versus Aston Villa (2-0)
Blackburn Rovers line up: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Dunn, Jones, Pedersen, Hoilett, Roberts and El-Hadji Diouf. Subs: Bunn, Kalinic, Goulon, Hanley, Morris, Chimbonda and Mame Diouf.
Aston Villa line up: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Clark, Warnock, Downing, Ireland, Hogg, Bannan, Ashley Young and Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Pires, Delfouneso, Osbourne, Lichaj, Herd and Lowry.
The match kicked off with Blackburn on the front foot as they controlled the majority of the possession in the first ten minutes of the match. The first chance of the match fell to none other than Christopher Samba, the tall Blackburn centre back rose above
everyone else inside the Aston Villa box but his ensuing header was over the bar as the scores remained level at nil all.
Blackburn were setup with their usual front man Jason Roberts who tried to hurry the likes of Richard Dunne in Aston Villa’s defence. Villa’s first proper attack came in the 12th minute of the match as Young and Bannan combined brilliantly at
the end of the Blackburn box, however the final shot by Bannan was off the target as Blackburn were let off the hook. Villa had their first injury worry of the match around the 14th minute mark as it was Luke Young who looked to be injured for the
Birmingham team but the right back recovered from the knock that he sustained during the match and carried on.
In the 15th minute, Villa almost opened the scoring as it was Ashley Young who went past Michel Salgado with ease. Young then took a try on Blackburn goals but Paul Robinson was on hand to palm the ball away for an Aston Villa corner. The ensuing
corner kick was wasted by Houllier’s team as they gave away possession far too easily near the corner flag after taking a short corner kick.
In the 17th minute, Stephen Warnock was at hand to save his team’s blushes as Jason Roberts almost got away a shot away on target. Warnock dived in with a good tackle to knock the ball away from the powerful striker who almost got his shot off.
It was a finely timed tackle by the ex-Liverpool man who did extremely well to spot the danger.
The first goal of the match came from Morten Gamst Pederson after Blackburn were awarded a free kick in the 46th minute of the match. Pederson’s free kick was marvellously struck as Brad Freidel’s touch was not enough to keep it out of the Villa
goal as Blackburn took the lead right in the dying moments of the match. The first half thus ended with the score line at 1-0 to the home side, Blackburn Rovers.
At the half time break, Blackburn made their first substitution of the match as their manager; Sam Allardyce replaced Gael Givet, his right back due to an injury with the Frenchman Pascal Chimbonda. The second half kicked off with Aston Villa coming quickly
out of the blocks. It was their young English winger who at first warmed Paul Robison’s palms with a good shot from outside the box. After that it was Young again who latched onto Stewart Downing’s cross from the right hand side with a brilliant header.
Unfortunately, Ashley’s header which was well struck thudded against the cross bar and the ball went out of play for the Blackburn free kick. In the 60th minute of the encounter, Clark, the Aston Villa centre back was booked by the referee for
pulling back Jason Roberts. The Blackburn striker made the most of the tug on his shirt as Clark was shown the match’s first yellow card. In the 62nd minute, El Hadji Diouf almost doubled his team’s lead but Richard Dunne made a fantastic challenge
to take the entire pace off the ball as Freidel caught the ball with ease.
At the 64th minute mark, Biram Diouf was introduced by Blackburn as he replaced Junior Hoillet in attack for the Rovers. In the 65thminute of the match, Blackburn doubled their lead as they capitalized on the corner kick that was awarded
to them. The loose ball fell to the Norwegian midfielder, Pederson inside the Villa penalty area and the winger made no mistake in finishing the set piece off with a fine goal. Villa made their first change of the match as Robert Pires came on for Stephen
Ireland.
Blackburn adopted a more pragmatic strategy after they went two goals up whereas Villa did well after conceding the second goal but they lacked the incisiveness to play the final pass beyond the Blackburn defence. Thus the match ended with the score line
at 2-0 as Blackburn Rovers scored a vital win to make it three wins out of their last four matches.
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