Penalty blow for Black Cats

Sunderland paid for a second-half penalty miss as Blackburn ended the Black Cats' hopes of a first away win of the season.

Sunderland left to rue spot-kick miss

Sunderland paid for a second-half penalty miss as Blackburn ended the Black Cats' hopes of a first away win of the season. Visiting skipper Dean Whitehead saw his weak spot-kick easily saved by Brad Friedel after Christopher Samba was penalised for a clumsy challenge on Daryl Murphy. Just moments later, Whitehead was made to rue his poor effort as Benni McCarthy scored from the spot after Danny Higginbotham was adjudged to have handled Samba's goal-bound effort to give Rovers a fortunate 1-0 win. Higginbotham led the protests and was booked by referee Rob Styles before McCarthy blasted the penalty beyond Craig Gordon. The Black Cats' misery was complete when Dwight Yorke saw red for two cautions to leave it an uphill struggle for the visitors who lacked the firepower to get anything from the game after Kenwyne Jones limped off at half-time. Rovers boss Mark Hughes again opted to leave out Robbie Savage and Jason Roberts - this was the second successive game in which midfielder Savage has not figured, and it appears almost certain he will leave at some stage this month. The Black Cats are understood to be leading the chase for his services, along with Wigan and Derby, although his wages could prove to be a stumbling block for potential suitors. As for Roberts, Rovers have placed an apparent fee of £4million on his head, despite the fact he has only scored seven goals in his 40 appearances since a £3million move from Wigan 18 months ago.

Industry

Arguably, Rovers could have done with their industry and endeavour against Sunderland during an opening 45 minutes devoid of meaningful entertainment. Referee Rob Styles set the tone as he observed just 30 seconds of applause to honour the death of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell immediately before kick-off rather than the expected minute. What then followed was tedious, with the best chance falling to an out-of-sorts Rovers, albeit courtesy of a set-piece situation. When Yorke handled in the 25th minute, David Bentley's free-kick had plenty of pace on it, but too much curl as it flashed just wide of the right-hand post. Sunderland played the marginally better football before the break and created more chances, although none seriously tested goalkeeper Friedel. The American's most crucial save of the half arrived in the 10th minute when he parried a stinging angled drive from Murphy at his near post. That at least sparked a period of pressure from the visitors, but other than a dragged shot wide from Jones, they failed to press home their advantage. Jones failed to appear for the second half - as did Rovers' on-song striker Roque Santa Cruz - before Friedel made his telling contribution in the 51st minute.

Tame

Centre-back Samba clumsily challenged Murphy and Styles pointed to the penalty spot - but Whitehead's spot-kick was tame and Friedel comfortably clutched the shot low to his left. Within minutes McCarthy showed Whitehead how to take a penalty as he powerfully drove the ball home low and hard. That had come after Styles had penalised Higginbotham for handball, following a thunderous strike from Samba. However, the defender - who was also booked - was just two yards away when the ball struck his upper left arm, and had turned his back away from the shot. It was harsh, while the same could be said about the first yellow card for former Blackburn striker Yorke, who won the ball in a 66th-minute tackle with sub Matt Derbyshire, who replaced Santa Cruz. It led to Derbyshire's withdrawal moments later through injury, with David Dunn on as his replacement. And it was another foul on the midfielder from Yorke that led to the former Rovers player's early exit, and it did the visitors few favours as they failed to find the equaliser - and slip back into the bottom three as a result of Wigan's unlikely draw at Liverpool.

Blackburn Rovers	Team Statistics	Sunderland
1	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
1	Shots on Target	3
6	Shots off Target	4
4	Blocked Shots	2
7	Corners	3
12	Fouls	13
2	Offsides	2
3	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	1
71.7	Passing Success	67.4
24	Tackles	26
66.7	Tackles Success	76.9
59	Possession	41
44.2	Territorial Advantage	55.8