Premier League - Newcastle beat Rovers to go fifth
Newcastle United moved up to fifth in the Premier League table with a 2-0 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park which leaves Rovers in the relegation zone.
The Magpies took a 12th-minute lead when Ryan Taylor's strike was deflected in off Scott Dann's boot, but Rovers had plenty of chances to at least pull level by half-time, not least from the penalty spot where David Dunn's effort was saved by Tim Krul.
Despite Rovers having more than 20 shots on goal throughout the match, Alan Pardew's side held on and doubled their lead in second-half stoppage time through substitute Gabriel Obertan. In doing so, they earned three points which see them leapfrog Arsenal and Liverpool to go three points behind Chelsea.
A 13th league defeat of the season leaves Blackburn in the bottom three, two points from safety after Bolton Wanderers held Arsenal to a goalless draw.
Newcastle arrived at Ewood Park having already beaten Rovers in both the league and the FA Cup at St James' Park this season, although they were eliminated from the Carling Cup at the Lancashire ground.
The visitors had the better of the possession in the first 10 minutes, although a tame header wide from Shola Ameobi was the closest they came to creating a chance.
So they could count themselves fortunate to be ahead with less than a quarter of an hour played. A Newcastle attack was sparked after a misplaced pass from Radosav Petrovic and the ball was eventually worked across to Taylor. The full-back let off a shot from 20 yards that appeared to be going off target before Dann's outstretched foot guided it past the helpless Paul Robinson.
Dann has now scored three own goals in the Premier League, the same number as times he has scored at the right end in the competition.
That goal may have meant Blackburn are still looking for their first league clean sheet of the season - after 23 games a Premier League record - but they have not been lacking in attacking intent and they were almost level within minutes of going behind. From a corner Gael Givet's header was blocked en route to goal by Danny Simpson and the Frenchman prodded the rebound wide.
With top scorer Yakubu Aiyegbeni still suspended, Rovers manager Steve Kean gave a full debut to newly-acquired French striker Anthony Modeste. The 23-year-old, on loan from Bordeaux, showed he was willing to work hard for his new club from the start, and he had something of a running duel with Davide Santon throughout. Modeste almost marked his first start in England with a goal, but the ever-reliable Fabricio Coloccini slid in at the last moment to block the shot after the striker was played in by Dunn.
Not long afterwards Leon Best headed a Blackburn corner off his own bar, and it looked as though Rovers were destined to equalise. That fate looked sure to be sealed on 43 minutes when Modeste was bundled over by Danny Simpson in the area. Referee Phil Dowd pointed to the spot and Modeste wanted to take the spot-kick, only for Dunn to pull rank and place it on the spot himself. Krul guessed correctly and saved Dunn's penalty, with Givet and Morten Gamst Pedersen getting in each other's way on the follow-up.
Conscious of the amount of opportunities Blackburn were creating, Pardew switched Hatem Ben Arfa for James Perch at the break to try and add more solidity to his side.
However, it was still Rovers creating all the best chances with Modeste in particular looking the most like scoring. On one occasion the Frenchman beat the offside trap and lobbed over the onrushing Krul, but his effort had neither the accuracy nor pace needed to beat the retreating defenders. Another ball over the top sat up nicely for him to strike on his left foot, but he skewed the half-volley across goal.
The 78th-minute introduction of Ruben Rochina almost yielded results when Martin Olsson's deflected shot trickled through to the Spaniard, but he could only find the side-netting with his shot.
Givet then had another effort from a corner blocked - by Perch this time- before Modeste sent the otherwise faultless Coloccini on to his backside with a neat flick, only to fire his strike right at Krul.
Blackburn hearts were broken in injury time when, after the home side committed too many men forward, two substitutes conspired to hit them on the break. Peter Lovenkrands slipped a weighted pass through for Obertan to chase and the former Manchester United forward struck a cool finish across Robinson for his first goal in Newcastle colours.
Comment 18 - 37 of 37
Cracking result and a belter of a comment alan (27) but we looked weak in the midfield and will have to improve v Villa. I would give Abeid or Vuckic a go alongside Guthrie. We did ride our luck last night but it was a very poor decision for the free kick and, in my opinion the penalty.
Malcolm,
how are you catching us. It's taken you TEN games to close the gap by 3 points mate. We are at home this weekend, and you have a very dodgy away game. Only 14 games left, and you also have to visit St James' Park, when we will have our African contigent back and 50 thousand backing which no doubt will heavily influence the ref in our favour.
....You think that might be the reason The video of the highlights isnt playing properly...could all be a big coverup ;)
A little bit similar to our home defeat against Chelsea. We did everything but score and got beat by cheats and a bad referee
Comment 31: Im actually glad someone has brought this up, i was lucky enough to watch the game and for some reason Hoilett hasnt been Penalised for the Blatent dive against Coloccini who had actually pulled out of the Challenge, showing up Hoilett as a Cheat in the process...i've had a look through some tabloids and news feeds and i havent seen any mention of the Dive...even at half time commentary highlights there wasnt any mention of it or replays showing it again...for the FA supposidly stamping out this kind of behaviour it seems like there trying to sweep it under the carpet because Newcastle won in the end, which "apparently" makes it ok because Blackburn didnt Capatilze on the Free kick they won. Although i dont agree with what Ryan Taylor did after it, i hate to admit i would probably have done the same thing as i was Seething over the fact nothing was done, especially after (Apparently) the Fourth Official tried to signal to the ref about the Dive...yet STILL gave Blackburn the Benefit of the doubt and a Free Kick...Something need to be done about this as it Stinks to high heaven.
Yes we got lucky but hey, so does every team now & again, remember we were missing the spine of our team too, Ba, Cabaye, Tiote & Taylor, add to that the new striker Cisse, I know we won't see Taylor back this season & thats a worry as we have no cover but I reckon once we get the rest back in the team we'll be fine !
Is it possible for the FA to charge a player for blatantly diving? Just a thought since we have seen several examples of trial by TV recently and Hoilett's dive last night was missed by the ref ( a requisite to the process) and stone cold obvious.
I honestly believe that diving is worse than retaliation. The latter is instinctive........ whilst diving is pre-meditated cheating!!
Comment 27 I couldnt agree more Alan well said and well played for a good result ours was just as good tho and we are catching you!! Nice to read some common sense and reason on the pages.
Cant get video to play :(
I agree with post 22. But glad we didn't sign that player from Watford. I am hoping we go in for Nick Viergever from AZ Alkmaar - young talented player who would cost us about 2m. Davy Pröpper from Vitesse would provide cover for Tiote - young talented player who would cost us about 1m. While Daley Blind from Ajax would be good for a left back although I would like to see us go back in for Erik Pieters as well and have Blind as cover.
Yeah we may have had a bit of luck here and there, but we have also had a bit of bad luck here and there (yes, we should have had a penalty against Brighton). That is football. You can have someone cheat in a game or a ref make a terrible decision that loses you the game, but once it is done there isnt anything you can do about the points you have lost. You just move on to the next game.
Anyone saying Newcastle are a poor team, and shouldnt be where they are, obviously doesnt understant football. You dont get to 5th position in the premier league by being lucky. Maybe after 3 or 4 games but NOT after 23 games.
The best football fans are the ones who arent blinded by their loyalty to their own club. I remember going down to Wolves in the 90's. 3 of us walked into a pub with our Newcastle tops on. The room went silent and it was squeaky bum time as the room was full to the brim with wolves fans. We went in and had a drink anyway, had a bit of banter, told them we were going to thrash them and we'd be back in the pub later to celebrate. We lost 6-2. We still went back to the pub and took a bit of friendly stick, stayed there till last orders and got totally legless. Had a great time.
THAT is what being a football supporter should be like.
Blackburn were awful and the best team lost
divy newcastle dont deserve to be anywhere near 5th place.. sighning all these new players 2 just f off back down to the championship.... @#$% s
Blackburn probably deserved something out of tonight's game right? Yeah. What goes round, comes round. I've seen Blackburn get wins at SJP, the north east's biggest stadium, when they've been played off the park too. This is what happens when you're having a bad season. It ain't Kean's fault. The people who run the club are to blame in the main, but you wasted your chances. Win some. You lose some. You beat Man U at the Stadium of CORRUPTION. But tonight you got mugged by an average Newcastle without its main striker force. Thing could be worse. You could've lost to little Sunderland and the money launderers from the Irish Re.pub.lican A.rm.y
Lets all laugh at the skunks again?...................OH look we are 5th with A POOR ,LUCKY TEAM THAT HAVE PLAYED NO ONE.............SMB 5.1
HOPE YOU CAN MAKE MARCH THE 4TH AND STAY UNTIL AFTER HALF TIME.Silly little tramps ..smb
it seems that we are really missing ba as well as tiote cabaye's absence is unfortunate also. whilst i'm delighted with cisse's arrival i'm also dissappointed we did not secure another central defender, if williamson or collocini is injured or suspended we are in deep doodah! the earlier comment about midfielder numbers is spot on! congrats to us it is a sign of quality when we win when not playing well c'mon toonsters!!!!!
i have to say we were well... some ppl would say lucky but i say unfortunate because 1 that was never a pen and also jnr hoillet is a diving little tool and that was never a free kick and im just picking out the worst 1 there the referee today was so so bad but cheaters get what they deserve @#$% all yeah blackburn had over 20 shots but most from distance once our african players are back we can hopefully have a strong finish to the season
Sounds like we are really missing Tiote. Once he comes back into the side and with Cisse and Ba up front again, we should put together a strong finish to the end of the season. If we find ourselves in Europe next season then we really need to be looking for a holding midfielder to provide cover for Tiote. We should get a proper left back and then play Santon as right back and Taylor as right wing.
A win is a win, up to 5th, above LFC and Arsenal can`t be too bad, even though Newcastle played poorly. Blackburn were unfortunate, but that`s football. Newcastle have tasted the wrong end of luck in games also.
comment 11 Shola has no effect whatsover wrong he has a total negative effect in all his pathetic play
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