Great chance for Rovers but Grabbi unable to connect with Yorke and nothing comes of it. Dunn runs at the Man City defense ... tries another cheeky move but Grabbi was offsides. Awful tackle by Tiatto. Shocking tackle according to annoucner. Thompson down in agony. "That is an absolute legbreaker!" Straight red. He is off.
Rovers, 2-0 up and with a one man advantage. Kick hits the bottom of the wall. Thompson back on. Thompson wins a throw off of Anelka. Amazing after that tackle about 5 minutes earlier. Cross by Anelka ... berg played it away. Fans appeal for a PK but none given.
Free kick for City cleared away. City with some pressure at the moment. Anelka heads it over from 6 yards. Kickes the post in frustration. far and away the best chance on a cross from Phillips. brad came out to get and could not. City looking dangerous.
Rovers have suddenly gone to sleep. Man City playing 10 men is creating a lot more chances than they were with 11. Grabbi in .. finds Yorke but he is unable to beat his former teammate. Great chance to go up 3-0. Rovers corner. Thompson to take. Comedy of errors as the Man City keeper plays ot over and whacks the bar as well. Corner. Taken by Schmeichel.
Good possesion by Rovers. Passing it around making City chase as they are a man down. In the end, Brad plays it down field. Shot gobbled up by Schmeichel. Thompson with the shot from 25 yards. Gillespie off, Mahon on. Goes straight across to left midfield. 2-0. Rovers. 13 minutes left in this one.
Rovers again, waste an excellent opportunity. Thompson skies a left footed shot over the bar. This is ominous. Writght-Phillips into the area, Anelka puts it over the bar. Time for Rovers to step up as City seems to have some moment. Friedel goes ballistic at Mahon for not getting inside his mark. Chip by Goater, falls to a City player. Shot goes astray. Rovers earn throw as Thompson shot takes a defelction out.
Thompson signals that he needs to come off. Neill fouled, earns a free kick. Tugay on for Thompson. To play wide right. Yorke break forward as Yorke gives it away in a bad place. Eventually goes out of Rovers throw. 5 minutes plus injury time.
It is all City at the moment. Rovers ease pressure as they win a throw. Goal kick for City as Mahon slips as he tries to control the ball. Yorke with some possesion down in the corner but it is taken away. GOAL! Rovers throw away a two goal lead. Goater equalizes.
Absolutely terrible. "Defensive frailities exposed cruelly" Maybe a minute plus stoppage. Anelka with the cross into the middle to Wright-Phillips. Corner to Man City. 4 minutes of added time. Corner taken. Shot goes inches wide. Another corner.
header off the corner. Off for another corner. Corner taken .. Goater plays it in .. Taylor finally clears the ball all the way back. Brad with a goal kick. Berkovic booked. Free kick. A real chance for Rovers. Dunn slips as he takes it .. it goes 20 yards over the crossbar. Full time. Rovers 2 Man City 2
wow, this was a great match to see. Brad was beaten with a great shot for the 1-2 goal, but the 2-2 goal, though Citeh did have a good buildup, Brad could have done much better with the shot. It was wonderful to see such a nice flowing attacking match between two decent sides.
great shot my ass. anelka struck it well but brad looked to have it covered from the replay from behind goal but it deflected off of a blackburn defender... totally unlucky afternoon for brad. both bounces (off his own defenders) went man. city's way.
Splarg, I dunno. It's kind of hard to blame him for not stopping a shot his defender stopped. One thing I noticed about Blackburn's defense...when Man City was sweeping forward, the Rovers' backline all turned and ran in a line...it was very, very easy for late runners for Man City to get off clear shots from inside the box. The midfield wasn't covering back either. I'm not enough of an expert on soccer to know whether the defenders were to blame for covering space instead of players, or the midfield was to blame for getting beaten back. But that's how you blow a 2 goal lead up a man.
Citeh did do really well for being down 2-0 and playing with 10 men. I missed the defelction on the first goal, but I wasn't really involved in the match. Looked a good strike to me.... I'll see it again on the highlite show tonight.
Yeah ,both goals were deflected,and it took a couple viewings for me to realize that Friedel did a good job to even get his hand on the last one.If Schmeichel doesen't get nutmegged by Cole on his shot,Rovers lose. (waits for someone to say "Keller would have stopped one of those."....) Souness ripped Yorke for not tracking back on Distin and ripped his side for not playing when up a man.My question is,if they're up a man,why the **** should he even have to track back?Why is a striker supposed to be marking an outside back anyhow?And if you're blaming players' not having the fitness or mental toughness to run for 90,well,Souey,who's responsible for that,son? Sorry,that was more than one wasn't it?..
A terrible job by Blackburn's defenders at the close. No one attacked the crosses and no one was willing to cover the men filling from behind. Just attrocious, and Friedel has every right to be livid.
Friedel totally abandoned by his defenders. Strikers repeatedly left unmarked at the penalty spot for lay-backs, and just when Brad seems to be in position to stop them, the defenders deflect the ball in! Ridiculous, especially playing a man up.
damn shame - give up three points when up a man - unforgiveable ... you just don't get those opportunities very often.