Roberts miss spares Sunderland

Blackburn made it two games unbeaten under Sam Allardyce after a goalless draw with Sunderland.

Stalemate at the Stadium of Light

Blackburn made it two games unbeaten under Sam Allardyce after a goalless draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Both sides struggled to create clear goalscoring opportunities with defences very much on top on Wearside in a fiercely-contested battle. Jason Roberts had the best chance of the game in the closing seconds when he somehow failed to find the net after rounding Marton Fulop in the Sunderland goal. Fulop made a superb save to deny Morten Gamst Pedersen in the second half when he tipped the Norwegian's free-kick onto the post. What progressive football there was in the first half came from Sunderland, although with Djibril Cisse struggling to stay onside and Jones having a battle on his hands with Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen, clear-cut chances were at a premium. Indeed, the best of them fell to right-back Phil Bardsley with 28 minutes gone after Kenwyne Jones had made his presence felt inside the Rovers penalty area. The home fans appealed for a penalty when the Trinidad and Tobago international collided with Pedersen as he attempted to challenge Nelsen for a high ball. However, Bardsley met the rebound and curled a left-footed effort just wide with goalkeeper Paul Robinson at full stretch. Jones went close himself three minutes later when, after Nelsen had cut out a dangerous Andy Reid cross, Robinson and Samba hesitated and the striker acrobatically hooked the ball over the crossbar. Jones only just failed to climb high enough to meet another Reid cross deep into stoppage-time at the end of what proved to be a frustrating half for the home side.

Disallowed

Rovers had the ball in the net within two minutes of the restart after Samba guided a David Dunn free-kick past the Sunderland goalkeeper. However, referee Martin Atkinson was quick to spot that he had done so with his hand, chalking off the strike and booking the defender for his pains. But Fulop was called upon for the first time with 54 minutes gone when, after Brett Emerton had been tripped by Danny Collins on the edge of the box, Pedersen went for goal. The midfielder got the ball up and down over the defensive wall, but the Sunderland 'keeper got across to turn it one-handed on to the post. It was Allardyce's side who almost went ahead on the hour when McCarthy slipped the ball in for midfielder Keith Andrews. He attempted to lift a shot over the advancing Fulop, but the Hungarian did enough to divert his shot over the bar. Cisse almost broke the deadlock with 66 minutes gone when he hammered a right-footed volley just over after Kieran Richardson had got his head to Steed Malbranque's right-wing cross. Roberts should have won it at the death when he forced his way in on goal but inexplicably fired wide wide of the empty net.

Sunderland	Team Statistics	Blackburn Rovers
0	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
2	Shots on Target	2
7	Shots off Target	6
9	Blocked Shots	1
5	Corners	2
5	Fouls	12
6	Offsides	3
0	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
72.9	Passing Success	70.2
23	Tackles	24
78.3	Tackles Success	79.2
53.8	Possession	46.2
57.4	Territorial Advantage	42.6