Morten Pedersen strikes down Aston Villa as Blackburn Rovers win 2-0
Blackburn Rovers defeated Aston Villa 2-0 in a victory that is sure to please the new club owners. The first half consisted of consistent pressure from the Blackburn side and Aston Villa had to resort to attacking on the counter attack. This ebb and flow
of the game, however, was unable to reach a decisive moment and bring about a goal until the dying moments of the first half.
The first piece of action in the game came when Aston Villa broke quickly after a free kick taken by Blackburn captain Chris Samba. Ex-Manchester City midfielder Steven Ireland played a lovely through ball towards left-footed winger Stewart Downing. The
ex-Middlesbrough player avoided a tackle by defender Gael Givet and shot towards goal. The shot was stopped by Paul Robinson who managed to keep his side from going down by a goal so early in the piece.
Another quick counter attack by Villains almost led to the first goal when left-back Stephen Warnock tore through the heart of the Blackburn midfield. As Warnock was about to release Gabby Agbonlahor, centre back Ryan Nelsen made a crucial last ditch interception
and the danger was dealt with.
A moment that was a nice break from the monotonous script of the game was seen in the first half that was sure to put a smile on the face of all the supporters in the stadium. Defender Gael Givet was running to get underneath a high ball when he collided
with the referee. With his eyes on the ball, he jumped and knocked into the back of the referee and fell to the ground.
What made the situation even more comical was when the Blackburn fans began to boo and they wanted a free-kick to be given. Another interesting observation was that despite the fact that Givet is over six foot tall and was like a giant compared to the referee,
he seemed to have come of worse from the encounter.
Play though continued and again Aston Villa played the game to counter attack. Winger Ashley Young ran towards the goal but his attempt was thwarted by Paul Robinson.
Despite the major share of possession Blackburn had in the middle of the park due to their physical imposing presence, the best chances of the half had fallen to Aston Villa. Robinson, like Ben Foster on Saturday, had pulled off top notch saves to keep his
side in the game.
The efforts of Blackburn keeper had been witnessed by all in the stadium. The same compliments could not be given to American veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel on the other end of the pitch. With a free-kick from a rather innocuous position on the pitch, Morten
Gamst Pedersen managed to outfox the American and fizz a shot past him into the top corner of the goal.
The Aston Villa keeper must shoulder the blame for his side facing a one goal deficit going into half time as his positioning led to the goal. Friedel was mindful of the fact that Sam Allardyce’s men usually depended on crosses into the area and relied on
their huge defenders to nod the ball goal wards. As a result, he was on the move even before the free-kick had been taken and was unable to track back quick enough and could only flap at the ball in horror when he realised his mistake.
In the second half, the match began to be dominated by Aston Villa as they looked to get the all important equaliser and then push forward for a possible win. They had the spirit and confidence to attack as they had seen Manchester United not lose hope and
come down from a two goal deficit against them just last week.
Downing had been having a good game and continued to deliver crosses to dangerous areas in the penalty box. He soon realised that despite delivering terrific crosses in the Blackburn penalty box, Aston Villa were unlikely to score as Blackburn were always
likely to win the header because of the size of their defenders. He then changed tactics and began to cut in more often and tried to play in his fellow team-mates.
All the Aston Villa good work came to nothing when following a scrap in the Villa penalty area, Pedersen managed to direct a shot towards goal into the back of the net to seal the points for his side. The new owners, who were watching the game, must have
been pleased to keep a clean sheet and win against a tricky Aston Villa side.
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