Blackburn Rovers 0 v 1 Charlton Athletic (Skybet Championship)
There was plenty of labour but not much art at a half empty Ewood Park this weekend. Charlton arrived in Lancashire and took all three points back to the capital in what was the worst game I have seen this season.
The game had a feel of a pre-season friendly with neither team taking control, both sides seemed happy to just pass the ball around midfield or across the back four and there was no real urgency.
The best moment of the game came on seven minutes, when Dale Stephens chipped a long ball between the two Blackburn centre-halfs for Simon Church to chest the ball down, before slotting it passed Jake Kean in the Blackburn goal to give Charlton the lead.
The next ten minutes was a mixture of poor passing, fouls and free-kicks which stopped any real chance of flowing football.
Blackburn’s first real chance arrived on twenty-two minutes, when an unmarked Jordan Rhodes had a free header from six yards, but he put his effort wide the Charlton goal.
On twenty-nine minutes, Marvin Sordell collected a pass from Bradley Pritchard before taking a left footed shot from the right hand side of the Blackburn box, his shot was collected by Jake Kean in the centre of the Blackburn goal.
A minute later Jordan Rhodes received the ball at the edge of the Charlton penalty area following a good lay off by Leon Best. The Blackburn forward then hit an excellent right foot shot, which was well saved by Ben Hamer.
The last fifteen minutes of the half continued to be scrappy with Blackburn keeping position across the back four and in midfield and the game being broken up with fouls and free-kicks.
The first real chance of the second half fell to Dale Stephens of Charlton just after the hour mark, when he had a free header from five yards, but his header went straight into the arms of Blackburn keeper Jake Kean.
Blackburn then made three changes when they brought on Williamson, Judge and Campbell to replace Best, King and Marshall. The changes seemed to assist Charlton and they had a further three efforts between the seventieth and eightieth minute.
At the final whistle the Blackburn fans let the players know how disappointed they were as the boos rang around Ewood Park. The day got even worse for the Blackburn fans, when their local rivals Burnley Football Club won 1-0 away at Ipswich to go two points clear at the top of the Championship.
Match Details
Blackburn Rovers – Kean, kane, Spurr, Kilgallon, Lowe, King, Best, Rhodes, Marshall, Dann, Cairney (Subs) Eastwood, Campbell, Williamson, Taylor, Marrow, Judge
Charlton Athletic – Hamer, Wilson, Wiggins, Wood, Cousins, Morrison, Stephens, Pritchard, Sordell, Church, Stewart (Subs) Alnwick, Evina, Jackson, Dervite-Vaussoue, Green, Gower, Kermorgant
Goals – (Charlton Athletic) – Church (7)
Attendance – 13,915
