FOOTBALL Live

Wednesday November 28, 2007 Finished Ewood Park

Logo 0 - Logo 4

Blackburn Rovers

Aston Villa

  • Carew 30’
  • Barry 52’ (pen.)
  • Young 81’
  • Harewood 89’
  1. Villa teach Rovers a lesson

    Villa teach Rovers a lesson

    Aston Villa recorded their fourth victory in succession with a resounding 4-0 humiliation of Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Wednesday night. Goals from John Carew, Gareth Barry, Ashley Young and Marlon Harewood saw Martin O'Neill's side rise into the top six of the Premiership. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Blackburn Rovers
    • Aston Villa
    • 90+2' Full time here at Ewood Park! The referee is booed from the pitch...
    • 90' Roberts finds the side netting from an acute angled shot.
    • 89' GOAL!! And it's a fourth for Martin O'Neill's side. Barry finds Carew in the box. The big Norweigan's shot is parried by Friedel, but it falls to the feet of Harewood, who slams home from the six-yard box.
    • 85' Carew can't get away from Samba so shoots early, but his weak effort is easily saved by Friedel.
    • 83' Harewood on for Agbonlahor.
    • 83' Agbonlahor takes a knock and will have to go off for treatment.
    • 82' Pedersen comes on for Bentley.
    • 82' Petrov is replaced by Gardner for Villa.
    • 81' Carew bounds down the right, finding Agbonlahor in the box. The youngster cuts it back... it rolls all the way back to Ashley Young, who drives home with a thumping first time shot from outside the box! A cracker! And from one of Villa's more disappointing players of the evening... Curtains for Blackburn.
    • 77' Young goes down under an innocuous challenge by Samba! The away fans cry for a penalty, but the referee's having nothing of it. In reality, Young went down because he is decidedly lightweight in comparison with the ox Samba. Young has been poor tonight. Bad decision making and awkward dribbling.
    • 75' Reo-Coker dispossesses Bentley on the edge of the box just as the ex-Arsenal winger was shaping to shoot. Barry breaks, puts Agbonlahor through, but Warnock recovers to deny a shooting opportunity.
    • 75' Another corner for Blackburn after Robert's cross is put out by Laursen.
    • 73' Reid wins a corner, Blackburn's tenth. But yet again, Villa clear with ease.
    • 72' Barry shoots from outside the box, but his curling - goalbound? - effort hits Carew's back and lets Blackburn breathe again.
    • 70' Carson makes a good decision to come out of his area and hoof the ball clear before Roberts can pounce.
    • 68' Warnock squanders another good crossing chance for Blackburn.
    • 65' Hughes makes a double substitution: McCarthy and Mokoena off for Reid and Roberts.
    • 64' Young bursts into the box but mis-plays in his cut back and Blackburn break.
    • 62' Clash of heads between Knight and Melberg. That looked horrible! Knight is up, but Melberg takes a long time to get to his knees. He gets up eventually, but will have to receive a little treatment. No cut though, fortunately.
    • 60' Barry robs Emerton and then feeds it to Petrov. Melberg receives the ball, but Young is then needlessly caught offside after the Swede's long floater.
    • 59' Reo-Coker puts it behind for a corner, which Bentley takes quickly. Santa Cruz with the header! But it goes wide. A good response by Blackburn since the second goal and sending off, mind.
    • 58' Clattering foul on Reo-Coker on McCarthy, who seems to compound it by landing badly on his ankle.
    • 55' Blackburn have a huge shout for handball inside the box by Bouma. But the referee waves on play! The home fans are livid, but it was probably the right decision.
    • 54' There's a look of disbelief from Hughes, who has seen his side wrongly denied an opener, then go two behind and lose a man.
    • 52' And the game is surely over after that massive decision by the referee. It was probably the right one to call the penalty, but it was very harsh to send Ryan Nelsen off there. He wasn't the last defender, and it was not malicious, merely clumsy. This game has seemingly been ruined by the man in black.
    • 51' Barry despatches the penalty with aplomb, low to Friedel's right.
    • 51' To make matters worse, Nelsen is sent off for that! It was a foul, but Agbonlahor made the most of it, and it did not deserve a red...
    • 50' Penalty! Nelsen kicks and tugs Agbonlahor in the box and the ref waves to the spot!
    • 49' Melberg booked for a wayward lunge on the left. Bentley whips in the ball... it takes a deflection, bobbles up high, before Barry scoops it over the bar for a corner.
    • 48' It would be 1-1 were it not for Wilfred Bouma's brave block to deny McCarthy's excellent - end venomous - strike. The ball fell to the South African on the edge of the box, and he volleyed it goalward with all his force. But somehow Bouma jumped in the way to deflect the chance. He'd certainly have felt that...
    • 47' Good start for Rovers, who win an early corner. But Bentley's delivery is disappointing and is cleared by the first defender.
    • 46' Blackburn get the second half under way.
    • 21:00 It might be half time, by Scott Carson has stayed out to practice his reflexes with the Villa goalkeeping coach. Very keen... and very brave to do it right in front of the home fans.
    • 45+2' The corner comes to nothing and the referee blows for half-time. Blackburn have it all to do in the second half. Mark Hughes will not be impressed.
    • 45+1' Ooijer has a fine run down the right flank and picks out Bentley, whose curling first-time shot takes a slight deflection and goes out for a corner. Carson seemed stranded...
    • 45' Blackburn throw finds Bentley, whose shot from the edge of the box is blocked. Falls to Dunn... oh woeful! Not sure whether to shoot or cross, Dunn does neither, and the ball balloons harmlessly into the stands.
    • 43' Carew's flick... Agbonlahor through with a chance... but Friedel has come off his line perfectly to smother the shot! The American read that perfectly. But yet again, Blackburn's defence did not challenge Carew. They are finding it hard to contain the big targetman tonight...
    • 40' The game has lost some of its intensity since the Villa goal. One thing is certain: Blackburn have lost their glint. Martin O'Neill's men have managed to hold on and turn thrings round to their favour.
    • 37' Warnock puts in a nice cross, but Emerton can't get his header on target and Villa clear.
    • 35' Fantastic play by Petrov, who glides through four challenges before poking it into the box. Somehow the ball bobbles through the Blackburn rearguard and finds its way to the feet of a surprised Carew, whose scuffed shot is easily gathered by Friedel. But that could have been double trouble for Rovers...
    • 32' Dunn wins Blackburn a corner, their fifth of the night. But Bentley's high delivery curled out of play and the ref blows for a goal kick. Wasted.
    • 31' Mark Hughes will be gutted with his team: they have dominated without turning pressure into goals; then one cynical, cheap foul in their own half - coupled with some slap-dash set piece defending - has gifted the visitors the lead. Excellent delivery by Young, and a top-notch header by the big Norweigan Carew.
    • 30' Dunn pulls down Young and Villa have a freekick on the left. It's Young to take... in comes the curler... AND CAREW RISES UNOPPOSED TO NOD PAST THE STRANDED BRAD FRIEDEL! One nil to Villa - against the run of play.
    • 28' Reo-Coker bursts into the Blackburn half and finds Young. But the speedy winger's cross is cleared by Samba. Better from Villa, mind.
    • 25' Villa are not getting a sniff. After a great start to the game, the visitors have become invisible.
    • 23' Santa Cruz caught offside after McCarthy's slips it through... but again that was dubious... Villa are playing a very dangerous game here. Some time soon, one of these will go in Blackburn's favour.
    • 22' McCarthy is just about to pull the trigger on the edge of the box when Barry makes a timely intervention. Excellent all round play. This is a very entertaining encounter.
    • 20' Santa Cruz plays it through to McCarthy... who shoots and scores from the left hand side of the box!! But the flag is up! It won't count... the South African was deemed to have strayed offside - although replays clearly show that he was level with the last defender. A let off for Villa! And what a superb finish it was - a rising shot that gave Carson no chance...
    • 19' Emerton finds McCarthy in the box, who turns, shoots, and wins another corner after a deflection. Bentley curls it in, but no one can get on the end of it. Rovers are dominating, but haven't really threatened from these set pieces for all their hard work.
    • 16' Bentley to take the free-kick... he lashes it in with venom... GOOD SAVE BY CARSON! The England keeper parries it over for a corner. Excellent reflexes.
    • 15' Dunn, who has been excellent, back heels towards McCarthy, who wins a free-kick on the edge of the box after being clattered to the ground by Reo-Coker.
    • 13' Santa Cruz bursts through on the right flank after McCarthy's superb through-ball... the angle is acute but he shoots... OVER THE BAR! But that had real power in it... Excellent play from arguably one of the Premiership's best strike forces.
    • 12' Nelsen shoots from the edge of the box but Carson makes another strong save! Blackburn in the ascendency now...
    • 11' Now Blackburn are baginning to play their way into the game. A great passing sequence comes to an end when Bouma makes a last-ditch tackle on McCarthy after the South African nutmegged himself into the box.
    • 10' Blackburn's first corner is headed away by Knight without much ado.
    • 8' The game is being played almost entirely in Blackburn's half. But now the home side breaks... Samba finds Santa Cruz, who squares it back to Dunn in the middle. Dunn shoots from distance! Fine parry by Carson. That was a swerving effort from Dunn and could have easily hit the back of the net.
    • 6' Villa captain Gareth Barry is down after a knock of heads. He's a tough nut and will be ok though.
    • 5' Blackburn clear, but this is a good start for the visitors.
    • 4' Zat Knight gets the flick on from Young's corner, but no one is there to meet the ball. No matter, Agbonlahor wins another corner - again a timely tackle from Samba.
    • 3' Agbonlahor wins a corner from Samba. A nice injection of pace there down the left flank.
    • 2' Scott Carson gets his first tough - amid the predicatable boos from the home fans. But another clean sheet tonight will do wonders for his rehabilitation after that England debacle...
    • 1' Referee Phil Dowd blows for the first half! Villa kick off the game...
    • 19:57 The players are making their way onto the pitch. Coming up: first half action LIVE from Ewood Park!
    • 19:45 TEAM NEWS: Santa Cruz returns for Blackburn to partner McCarthy up front, the South African having recovered from a gashed leg. Out of form Pedersen, who has yet to find the net this season, starts on the bench. For Villa, the in-form Agbonlahor keeps his starting berth alongside Carew.

  • Team Stats

    Blackburn Rovers Stats Aston Villa
    58% Possession 41%
    20 Shots 9
    5 Shots on target 7
    0 Saves 0
    11 Corners 2
    15 Fouls 10
    3 Offsides 7
    0 Yellow cards 1
    1 Red cards 0
    18 Tackles 27
    312 Accurate passes 207
    52 Bad passes 65

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Blackburn Rovers
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Brad Friedel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 4 0
      4 Christopher Samba 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 25 4 4
      15 Aaron Mokoena 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 26 2 1
      3 Stephen Warnock 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 38 7 1
      2 Andre Ooijer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 4 3
      6 Ryan Nelsen 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 10 0 1
      19 David Dunn 0 5 1 2 1 0 0 53 12 3
      7 Brett Emerton 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 29 1 3
      11 David Bentley 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 23 8 2
      10 Benedict McCarthy 0 2 0 1 2 1 0 19 3 0
      9 Roque Santa Cruz 0 3 0 1 1 2 0 25 3 0
      14 Steven Reid 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 14 3 0
      12 Morten Gamst Pedersen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 0
      8 Robbie Savage 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      32 Jason Brown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      30 Jason Roberts 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 0
    • Aston Villa
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      22 Scott Carson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0
      16 Zatyiah Knight 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6 0 3
      3 Wilfred Bouma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 17 0
      4 Olof Mellberg 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 22 0 0
      5 Martin Laursen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 3 5
      20 Nigel Reo-Coker 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 29 2 8
      6 Gareth Barry 1 3 1 1 1 1 0 45 22 6
      19 Stilian Petrov 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 22 1 2
      11 Gabriel Agbonlahor 0 1 1 2 2 3 1 11 5 0
      10 John Carew 1 3 3 3 1 2 0 9 2 1
      7 Ashley Young 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 19 13 2
      15 Curtis Davies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      13 Stuart Taylor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 Marlon Harewood 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
      26 Craig Gardner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      23 Patrik Berger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • 89' GOAL!! And it's a fourth for Martin O'Neill's side. Barry finds Carew in the box. The big Norweigan's shot is parried by Friedel, but it falls to the feet of Harewood, who slams home from the six-yard box.
    • 81' Carew bounds down the right, finding Agbonlahor in the box. The youngster cuts it back... it rolls all the way back to Ashley Young, who drives home with a thumping first time shot from outside the box! A cracker! And from one of Villa's more disappointing players of the evening... Curtains for Blackburn.
    • 77' Young goes down under an innocuous challenge by Samba! The away fans cry for a penalty, but the referee's having nothing of it. In reality, Young went down because he is decidedly lightweight in comparison with the ox Samba. Young has been poor tonight. Bad decision making and awkward dribbling.
    • 55' Blackburn have a huge shout for handball inside the box by Bouma. But the referee waves on play! The home fans are livid, but it was probably the right decision.
    • 51' Barry despatches the penalty with aplomb, low to Friedel's right.
    • 51' To make matters worse, Nelsen is sent off for that! It was a foul, but Agbonlahor made the most of it, and it did not deserve a red...
    • 50' Penalty! Nelsen kicks and tugs Agbonlahor in the box and the ref waves to the spot!
    • 48' It would be 1-1 were it not for Wilfred Bouma's brave block to deny McCarthy's excellent - end venomous - strike. The ball fell to the South African on the edge of the box, and he volleyed it goalward with all his force. But somehow Bouma jumped in the way to deflect the chance. He'd certainly have felt that...
    • 45+1' Ooijer has a fine run down the right flank and picks out Bentley, whose curling first-time shot takes a slight deflection and goes out for a corner. Carson seemed stranded...
    • 37' Warnock puts in a nice cross, but Emerton can't get his header on target and Villa clear.
    • 30' Dunn pulls down Young and Villa have a freekick on the left. It's Young to take... in comes the curler... AND CAREW RISES UNOPPOSED TO NOD PAST THE STRANDED BRAD FRIEDEL! One nil to Villa - against the run of play.
    • 20' Santa Cruz plays it through to McCarthy... who shoots and scores from the left hand side of the box!! But the flag is up! It won't count... the South African was deemed to have strayed offside - although replays clearly show that he was level with the last defender. A let off for Villa! And what a superb finish it was - a rising shot that gave Carson no chance...
    • 15' Dunn, who has been excellent, back heels towards McCarthy, who wins a free-kick on the edge of the box after being clattered to the ground by Reo-Coker.
    • 13' Santa Cruz bursts through on the right flank after McCarthy's superb through-ball... the angle is acute but he shoots... OVER THE BAR! But that had real power in it... Excellent play from arguably one of the Premiership's best strike forces.
    • 11' Now Blackburn are baginning to play their way into the game. A great passing sequence comes to an end when Bouma makes a last-ditch tackle on McCarthy after the South African nutmegged himself into the box.
    • 19:57 The players are making their way onto the pitch. Coming up: first half action LIVE from Ewood Park!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Blackburn Rovers

    Manager: Mark Hughes

    Captain: Ryan Nelsen

    On the Field

    • Friedel
    • Warnock
    • Nelsen
    • Samba
    • Ooijer
    • Bentley
    • Mokoena
    • Dunn
    • Emerton
    • McCarthy
    • Santa Cruz

    Subs

    • Savage
    • Roberts
    • Reid
    • Pedersen
    • Brown

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Aston Villa

    Manager: Martin O'Neill

    Captain: Gareth Barry

    On the Field

    • Carson
    • Mellberg
    • Knight
    • Laursen
    • Bouma
    • Young
    • Petrov
    • Reo-Coker
    • Barry
    • Carew
    • Agbonlahor

    Subs

    • Berger
    • Taylor
    • Harewood
    • Davies
    • Gardner

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None