Football Live

Saturday March 22, 2008 Finished Ewood Park

Blackburn Rovers 3 - Wigan Athletic 1

Blackburn Rovers

  • Santa Cruz 11’, 63’
  • Roberts 45’

Wigan Athletic

  • King 17’ (pen.)
  1. Ten-man Rovers see off Wigan

    Ten-man Rovers see off Wigan

    Blackburn moved up to eighth in the Premier League with a battling 3-1 win over Wigan, despite playing 75 minutes with only 10 men. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Blackburn Rovers
    • Wigan Athletic
    • FT There is the final whistle and that's a great win for Blackburn who played over 75 minutes of the match with only 10 men
    • 90' The full whistle is about one minute away but this game has pretty much ended anyway with both sides looking tired
    • 89' Blackburn substitution: Double goal-scorer Santa Cruz is brought off in favour of McCarthy
    • 85' Substitute Mokoena tries to make his mark on the match immediately as he thumps the ball goalward from 20 yards out but has to watch as his shot flies just wide and high
    • 84' Blackburn substitution: Dunn is replaced by Mokoena
    • 82' Wigan have been playing much better since having Palcios sent off but still they are struggling to get their final ball on target as Bent's header, from a Taylor corner, sails over the bar
    • 79' Khizanishvili brings down Heskey to hand Wigan a free kick. Taylor's cross is blocked by Ooijer and goes behind for a corner ... Taylor's corner finds the head of Scharner at the far post but the ball drifts wide and Blackburn escape again
    • 78' Blackburn substitution: Goalscorer Roberts makes way for Tugay
    • 78' Bentley is penalised for unsporting behaviour
    • 75' Dunn brings down Heskey gifting Wigan a free kick ... but Friedel does brilliantly well to come out and parry Taylor's shot away
    • 72' Other than Santa Cruz's goal this second half has so far been desperately lacking in highlights as Pederson's weak, volleyed shot misses the left post by a fair way
    • 69' Palacios is sent off for his second bookable offence after he takes Dunn's feet right out from under him with a late, two-footed challenge
    • 66' The visitors are beginning to threaten once again as Taylor's corner finds the head of Scharner but the ball sails over the bar again and Friedel regains possession
    • 65' Wigan finally test Friedel as Brown whips a shot goalward from 25 yards out forcing the American to parry the ball away for a corner
    • 63' Wigan substitution: Bent comes on for King
    • 63' GOAL BLACKBURN! 3-1! That man Bentley again with another beautiful cross, from the left wing, right to the head of Santa Cruz, who makes an angled run in from the left to head to ball into the back of the net
    • 61' Melchiot receives a yellow card for unsporting behaviour and Wigan are going to need to be careful if they don't want to level up the numbers by having a man of their own sent off
    • 61' Pedersen tries to set up Santa Cruz in the centre but the Paraguay international mis-hits his right footed shot and sends the ball wide of the right post
    • 59' Brown brings down Bentley and earns himself a yellow card for his troubles
    • 57' Palacios mis-hits his right-footed shot from 20 yards out and sends the ball whizzing past the right post
    • 54' King tries his luck from distance yet again but the ball is straight at Friedel, who still is yet to be really tested
    • 52' The game has taken a bad tempered path in the past few minutes with Pedersen, Heskey, Roberts and Ooijer all being blown up for transgretions
    • 49' Reid brings down Palacios to gift Wigan a dangerous looking free kick 25 yards out. But Taylor sends his shot whistling over the bar
    • 48' Wigan are looking a little more threatening in the early stages of this second half as Heskey tries a right-footed shot from 12 yards out. Friedel is still looking pretty comfortable though
    • 46' Wigan get the second half underway ...
    • HT Sure enough that is the end of the first half and despite Wigan having that one man advantage, Blackburn are by far the better team on the picth and have a 2-1 lead
    • 45+3 Wigan earn themselves a corner with what should be the last kick of the half ... but again Taylor's cross is a poor one and Rovers have the bodies back to deal with the threat
    • 45+1 Despite having an extra man in the midfield Wigan are struggling to gain any kind of consistant possession there
    • 45' GOAL BLACKBURN! 2-1! Rovers have done brilliantly well since having Samba sent off and finally get their reward as Roberts puts them back in the lead. Santa Cruz heads down into the path of Roberts who is on the left hand edge of the area, bides his time and then calmly slots the ball between the legs of the approaching Kirkland and into the back of the net
    • 42' Ooijer brings down King to gift Wigan a free kick 25 yards out but sub Taylor shot is a poor one and Friedel comes out to save it comfortably
    • 41' Wigan substitution: Taylor is brought on in place of the injured Edman
    • 39' Edman landed awkwardly as he returned to the ground from blocking Roberts' shot and he looks like he is a whole heap of trouble. The stretchers are coming on and Edman is having a huge splint put on his left knee
    • 38' Bentley is proving invaluable for Rovers today, everytime he gets the ball he creates something. Bentley's cross from the left wing reaches the head of Roberts, in a fair bit of space at the penalty spot, but he heads the ball straight at Edman
    • 37' Rovers come so close to regaining the lead as Bentley's free kick takes a small deflection off the top of the wall and rattles the right cross bar well out of reach of Kirkland
    • 36' Wigan's ill-discipline is not really helping them take advantage of Blackburn as Palacios brings down Dunn about 20 yards out to gift the hosts a free kick
    • 34' Edman attempts to swuing the ball back into the box by he puts his cross too close to Friedel who comes out and collects to avert the danger
    • 33' Ooijer turns Kilbane's cross behind for a corner. But the Wigan man's resulting corner is comfortably cleared by Reid
    • 30' Rovers are doing pretty well to contain Wigan at the moment and the match has just lost some of it's intensity as we reach the half hour mark
    • 27' Wigan are pushing again attempting to expose Blackburn at the back ... but Kilbane fouls Reid trying as he tries to get to Valencia's cross and Friedel gets the chance to clear with a free kick
    • 25' Wigan earn themselves a corner. Kilbane sends the ball towards the head of Boyce, whose header from the centre of the penalty area sails over the crossbar
    • 22' Blackburn don't seem to be intimdated by their one-man disadvantage as Santa Cruz looks for a second with a right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area. Kirkland is moving much better again now though and pulls off a fantastic save to keep Wigan level
    • 19' King seems enthused by his first goal for Wigan and thumps the ball goalward from 25 yards out forcing a scrambling Friedel to punch the ball away
    • 17' GOAL WIGAN! 1-1! A very confidant penalty from Marlon King, who breaks his goalscoring duck in a WIgan shirt. Friedel did dive towards the ball on his right hand side, even getting fingertips to it, but it wasn't enough to keep the well struck shot out of the back of the net
    • 16' PENALTY WIGAN! Heskey receives the ball on the edge of the area over the top of Samba who is desperately trying to catch Heskey as the last man. A small shove in the small of Heskey's back by Samba sees the Wigan man crashing to the ground and earns Smaba a straight red as well as gifting Wigan the chance to equalise
    • 15' Wigan are beginning to look a little more threatening now as Valencia gets the visitor's first shot on target from 25 yards out. Friedel is there though to comfortably catch the ball and avert the danger
    • 14' Palacios is the first player to be booked at Ewood Park so far to day, seeing yellow for unsporting behaviour
    • 11' GOAL ROVERS! 1-0! Kirkland has really been suffering since landing on his back and do little about Bentley's long range shot, this time from the left, but parry it up in the air. Roque Santa Cruz is on hand to head the simple ball home when it bounces at the right post
    • 9' Bentley looks to take advantage of Kirkland's restricted movement trying his luck from 25 yards out on the right of goal ... Kirkland does well though to get enough of his hand to the ball to turn it across the front of goal and away for a corner
    • 8' Wigan quickly earn themselves a first foray into Rovers territory and end up with a corner. Friedel is ready and waiting through and quickly comes out to collect Kilbane's inswinging corner from the right
    • 6' Play is back underway with Kirkland still on the pitch although he doesn't look very comfortable, he's not moving all that freely
    • 3' Kirkland is suffering early on and this does not look good for the Wigan keeper. Pedersen again with the throw, finds Ooijer, whose cross ends up in an easy take for Kirkland but he twisted in the air and has landed smack on his back, an area he has had problems with in the past. The physio is on the pitch at the moment with Mike Pollit warming up on the touchline
    • 2' Rovers earn themselves an early throw deep in the final third of the pitch ... Pedersen slings the long throw into the box but Wigan have the men back to head the ball away
    • 1' Blackburn get the match underway ...
    • 16:00 A result at Edwood Park for Rovers, combined with a loss for Manchester City, would mean Blackburn could end the day up in 8th place, while Wigan are looking to hold off Middlesborough, who are level with them on points, down in 12th
    • 15:58 Hello and welcome to eurosport.com's LIVE coverage of Blackburn versus Wigan at Ewood Park

  • Summary

    • 85' Substitute Mokoena tries to make his mark on the match immediately as he thumps the ball goalward from 20 yards out but has to watch as his shot flies just wide and high
    • 79' Khizanishvili brings down Heskey to hand Wigan a free kick. Taylor's cross is blocked by Ooijer and goes behind for a corner ... Taylor's corner finds the head of Scharner at the far post but the ball drifts wide and Blackburn escape again
    • 75' Dunn brings down Heskey gifting Wigan a free kick ... but Friedel does brilliantly well to come out and parry Taylor's shot away
    • 69' Palacios is sent off for his second bookable offence after he takes Dunn's feet right out from under him with a late, two-footed challenge
    • 63' GOAL BLACKBURN! 3-1! That man Bentley again with another beautiful cross, from the left wing, right to the head of Santa Cruz, who makes an angled run in from the left to head to ball into the back of the net
    • 45' GOAL BLACKBURN! 2-1! Rovers have done brilliantly well since having Samba sent off and finally get their reward as Roberts puts them back in the lead. Santa Cruz heads down into the path of Roberts who is on the left hand edge of the area, bides his time and then calmly slots the ball between the legs of the approaching Kirkland and into the back of the net
    • 37' Rovers come so close to regaining the lead as Bentley's free kick takes a small deflection off the top of the wall and rattles the right cross bar well out of reach of Kirkland
    • 22' Blackburn don't seem to be intimdated by their one-man disadvantage as Santa Cruz looks for a second with a right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area. Kirkland is moving much better again now though and pulls off a fantastic save to keep Wigan level
    • 17' GOAL WIGAN! 1-1! A very confidant penalty from Marlon King, who breaks his goalscoring duck in a WIgan shirt. Friedel did dive towards the ball on his right hand side, even getting fingertips to it, but it wasn't enough to keep the well struck shot out of the back of the net
    • 16' PENALTY WIGAN! Heskey receives the ball on the edge of the area over the top of Samba who is desperately trying to catch Heskey as the last man. A small shove in the small of Heskey's back by Samba sees the Wigan man crashing to the ground and earns Smaba a straight red as well as gifting Wigan the chance to equalise
    • 11' GOAL ROVERS! 1-0! Kirkland has really been suffering since landing on his back and do little about Bentley's long range shot, this time from the left, but parry it up in the air. Roque Santa Cruz is on hand to head the simple ball home when it bounces at the right post
    • 9' Bentley looks to take advantage of Kirkland's restricted movement trying his luck from 25 yards out on the right of goal ... Kirkland does well though to get enough of his hand to the ball to turn it across the front of goal and away for a corner

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Mike Dean

  • Blackburn Rovers

    Manager: Mark Hughes

    Captain: David Dunn

    On the Field

    • Friedel
    • Ooijer
    • Samba Red Card
    • Khizanishvili
    • Warnock
    • Bentley Yellow Card
    • Reid
    • Dunn Substitution Out (84′)
    • Pedersen
    • Roberts Goal Substitution Out (78′)
    • Santa Cruz Goals×2 Substitution Out (89′)

    Subs

    • Tugay Substitution In (78′)
    • McCarthy Substitution In (89′)
    • Mokoena Substitution In (84′)
    • Derbyshire
    • Brown

    Injured

    • Emerton
    • Nelsen

    Suspended

    None

  • Wigan Athletic

    Manager: Steve Bruce

    Captain: Mario Melchiot

    On the Field

    • Kirkland
    • Melchiot Yellow Card
    • Scharner
    • Boyce
    • Edman Substitution Out (41′)
    • Valencia
    • Palacios Red Card
    • Brown Yellow Card
    • Kilbane
    • Heskey
    • King Substitution Out (64′)

    Subs

    • Bramble
    • Bent Substitution In (64′)
    • Aghahowa
    • Taylor Substitution In (41′)
    • Pollitt

    Injured

    • Sibierski

    Suspended

    • Koumas