Blackburn 1-1 Nottingham Forest: Joe Lolley strike denies Rovers

Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Ewood Park

Tuesday 1 October 2019 22:43, UK

Nottingham Forest extended their unbeaten run in the Sky Bet Championship to nine games as they battled to a 1-1 draw against Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Chances were few and far between in a disjointed first half but the game sprung to life after the break, with Adam Armstrong's opener for Rovers cancelled out two minutes later by Joe Lolley.

The visitors could have returned to the Championship summit with victory had results elsewhere gone their way, but in the end were grateful for a point as the home side finished strongly.

Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi made two changes to the side which briefly went top of the table with a win at Stoke on Friday, as Tobias Figueiredo came in for the injured Michael Dawson and playmaker Joao Carvalho made way for the more industrious Yuri Ribeiro.

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray selected Danny Graham ahead of Bradley Johnson after seeing his side lose at home to Luton on Saturday.

There was little sign of the dreary opening half that was to come when Lolley almost put the visitors in front after 38 seconds, with the home defence failing to deal with Lewis Grabban's header back across goal before the winger poked a deflected effort wide from six yards.

Stewart Downing hit a low effort straight at Brice Samba form 20 yards as the home side produced their first effort on goal after eight minutes.

But both sides lacked quality in the final third, with Bradley Dack and Grabban trading tame efforts from distance before the interval.

Sam Gallagher directed a header off target from Downing's cross shortly after the break, while at the other end Lolley's short corner routine fell for Ben Watson 25 yards out but his powerful effort cleared the crossbar.

Grabban directed a volley from the edge of the area straight at Christian Walton but moments later Forest found themselves behind.

Armstrong burst through the away defence in the 63rd minute, and although Joe Worrall blocked his initial effort, the forward managed to fire the rebound past Samba from a tight angle.

Rovers' lead was wiped out just two minutes later, however, as Lolley found space 25 yards out and unleashed a shot into the bottom corner.

Forest had the chance to go ahead with 15 minutes remaining, but Albert Adomah failed to get a shot away after Carvalho's majestic through ball left him with only the keeper to beat.

Samba had to be alert to turn Greg Cunningham's cross behind for a corner as it drifted towards goal and the keeper then produced fine saves to deny Joe Rothwell and Derrick Williams in the closing stages.

Downing and substitue Dominic Samuel had efforts blocked late on before ex-Germany international Lewis Holtby fired wide with Rovers' last chance of the contest.

What the managers said...

Tony Mowbray: "We have to find the balance each game if we can, the right combination of players. A lot of crosses went in their box that we didn't get on the end of, so there's still things we have to work on - what type of goals are we going to score from wide areas? We can get behind teams - we've been working hard on our ball retention.

"We're a work in progress, a lot of new players, a new team, and I think we'll get better and stronger as the season unfolds. Yes, we're disappointed we've only drawn at home, but we've put down a marker for where we are and if anyone was going to win that it was going to be us."

Sabri Lamouchi: "It's a good point. We start the game better than Blackburn but they finished much better than us, so a draw is logical for both teams. We can do better in the first half with one or two chances; the second half it was a good reaction to come back immediately and that's a positive sign for me for the future.

"Every single game is very tough. It's important (not to lose), especially away at a difficult place like Blackburn. It was not easy, but it says a lot about the character of my players - they don't want to lose."