Blackburn Rovers vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
Ewood ParkAttendance13,647.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion at Ewood Park on Wednesday night; John Eustace's side lose perfect home start after stalemate
Wednesday 23 October 2024 23:15, UK
Blackburn's perfect home start in the Championship was ended after they were held to a 0-0 draw by West Brom.
Given these sides have identical league records, it was perhaps unsurprising they could not be separated.
They both had their opportunities, with Yuki Ohashi firing wide in the second half for the hosts, who had won all five league games this term at Ewood Park.
The best chances fell the way of Carlos Corberan's side though, as both of their full-backs, Darnell Furlong and Torbjorn Heggem, missed the target within minutes of each other in the first half, and they felt they were denied a penalty when Furlong was seemingly bundled over after the break.
The Baggies are winless in five for the first time under Corberan but he will have been encouraged by a performance against a Blackburn side who have now kept four consecutive clean sheets at home for the first time since March 2023.
Although the game started evenly, both teams created first-half chances, with the visitors going mightily close twice.
They almost went behind when Joe Rankin-Costello drilled a shot goalwards that went the wrong side of the post but Furlong and Heggem should have been on the scoresheet.
Alex Mowatt's quick free-kick in the 28th minute found the onrushing Furlong who beat the offside trap but the skipper dragged horribly wide from inside the area.
Two minutes later, Heggem ran onto a brilliant Josh Maja pass and, after steadying himself, he slotted a shot that shaved the far post.
Heggem was agonisingly close to connecting with a teasing Tom Fellows ball across the face of goal in first-half stoppage time, and Rankin-Costello whistled another effort just wide after Todd Cantwell's clever pass found him.
Rovers started the second half on the front foot and they should have made their dominance count on the hour when Ohashi was found on the right by a pinpoint Rankin-Costello pass but the Japanese forward got his shot all wrong and missed the near post.
They were given an almighty let-off in the 67th minute though when Furlong was brought down in the box by Cantwell when latching onto a John Swift pass but referee John Busby was unmoved.
Their mood was almost compounded by Tyrhys Dolan but he shot straight at Alex Palmer.
At the other end, a sumptuous ball from Mowatt found Karlan Grant on the left and he cut inside before unleashing a ferocious drive that Aynsley Pears tipped behind.
Mowatt engineered another chance five minutes from time when he found Maja whose cross was met by Jayson Molumby, who stung the palms of Pears, and Mowatt let fly himself from range but Pears was equal to it, saving down to his right.
Blackburn's John Eustace:
"Coming up against one of the top teams in the league, I felt we held our own, gave a really good account of ourselves and delighted to keep another clean sheet.
"I think that's five now, so that's pleasing. We showed some good quality at times as well against a really well drilled team defensively and as I say, I was very pleased with the effort.
"It was a good point. I think both teams had a good go at it and tried to break the defences down.
"They had a couple of really good chances in the first half, probably from us not doing our jobs properly but apart from that, I think we limited them to half chances.
"In the second half, we had a great chance with Yuki going through but overall I think a draw was a fair result."
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
"I think the action of the penalty, live, Furlong received a foul. A foul in the box, it's a penalty.
"Because he was in the position and the defender (Cantwell) makes a foul to avoid the finishing of Furlong. In these actions, the referee didn't understand enough probably to issue a penalty.
"It has not been a penalty because the referee didn't whistle. But live, it was an obvious one.
"Probably the fair result. I think that we had to put an unbelievable level of effort to achieve a point. I think we had possibilities to score the goal.
"In general, I value a lot the effort that the players had tonight to achieve the point.
"We had more possibilities. More times the ball in the opponent's box where we have to use it better. But we didn't do it. But the team has put in a lot of effort and competitiveness to achieve the point."
