Rovers v. United Live

By: Jim | April 19th, 2008

Well full time has come. Brad Clearly the Man of the Match. Best Rovers football all season. Unlucky at the last as we just couldn’t withstand the barrage of United’s offense. David has the review and you can catch the Play by play by clicking the link below.

1st: Kickoff Here at Ewood park.
3rd: Corner for united. Cleared out for a throw.
6th: Foul on Bents at the midway. FK into play, headed by RSC to Robets, back to RSC, shot deflected and, Roberts after the deflection, taken down by Kuszczak. PK? I thought so, the announcers though so, nothing called.
9th: Ronaldo’s trickery near the corner flag amounts t nothing as Peds just steps in and clears it.
10th: Rooner into the area, low cross to Tevez, Great stop. Out for a corner
11th: Said corner cleared and nothing amounts.
16th: Cross by Warnock on the left wing, in to Santa Cruz, header a bit weak and taken calmly by Kuszczak.
19th: Bents with a great touch and header to control near the half, brings the ball all the way to the end line, the cross in hits the first man and deflects to Emerton. Poor first touch sees a clearance attempt but only as far as Warnock. His cross back in goes out for a goal kick.
21st: GOALLLLLL; SANTA CRUZZZZ. Long throw in to th box, off Roberts and a defender and the ball lands right in front of the path of RS and he slots it home ever so cool and calmly. Amazing. 1-0 Rovers.
24th: This game has really taken a turn in the possession category. The confidence in Rovers’ game is clear, though I can not help but warn a bit of caution. We can’t open up too much, United do not need much to score.
27th: Giggs down the line, lays it off for Evra, too hard though and a goal kick for Big Brad.
29th: Ronaldo doves and a foul is given. He lines up to take the free kick. about 25-30 out. Shot takes a bounce and Brad Catches and holds. Stop diving ya cheat.
30th: Bents a shot from at least 30 yards out. Kuszczak has to parry back for a corner.
31: That corner cleared into play and Ronaldo goes down easily again. It’s quite ridiculous.
32nd: Bents keeps it in brilliantly. Cross just over the head of Roberts and cleared but only as far as the charging Emerton who clearly gets held and pushed as he’s forced to lay it off for RSC in the corner near the line. That cross knocked out for a corner. From the corner comes open play.
36th: Steady control and a bit of possession now. Blackburn looking solid.
40th: Rooney just getting frustrated as he lashes out at Samba violently. Might have been a red for anyone else, but we are playing United I suppose.
41st: Good buildup again, the aggression shown now is quite promising, Rovers looking for a second.
41: Rsc great control to bents with a great first touch. Off Vidic for a corner. Corner knocked away by the keeper, Rooney on the break. Passes to Carrick who knocks it off a defender for a United corner.
43rd: Ronaldo’s header from the Giggs corner. Amazing save by Brad. Open play.
ONE MIN ADDED ON.
45+1: Rooney wins a FK on the left side just outside of the area. Kick just taken in by Brad.
HALF TIME: Rovers started shaky but after the goal the game just turned. Ronaldo needs to be kept quiet. Bents, RSC, actually, everyone having a great game but those two standing out. Tune back in for the second half.

Subs: Nani for Giggs.
46th: The second half begins and Rovers will need a second goal to secure the game, United has to be poised to come at us quickly.
47th: Warnock knocked on the head, looks okay just quite shook up.
49th: Tevez takes down Vogel quite rashly. No card shown, but, it is United after all.
51st: Nani taken down by Reid, or rather, steps on Reid. Wins the foul 20-25 out. Ronaldo steps up to kick. Yellow shown to Reid. Free kick hits the wall. Open play.
54th: Ronaldo now doing acrobatics, clearly making the most of everything that happens near him. The free kick into the area caught by Big brad.
56th: United with a lot of possession, starting to exploit Reid on the right, but Rovers staying consistent, biding their time.
58th: Warnock fouled by Brown trying to stop the Rovers breakaway. Warnock’s eye all swelled up from the knock before.
59th: Roberts taken down blatantly by Vidic. Should have been a card, announcers even agree. “Its unlike Rob Styles to leave them in his pocket, especially when it should have been a card.” The free kick gets muddled around and cleared but the counter is stopped.
60th: Rooney gives it away and the ball played to Roberts who is just offside.
61st: The open play and battles going on make for some great football, for fans and neutrals alike. This game is really turning into a nice show.
62nd: Nani’s shot from just inside the area makes a nice treat for a fan in row Z.
63rd: Scholes with a foul on Vogel. Advantage attempted, good call but the foul is called back. Free kick by Warnock to Santa Cruz in the area, headed away by the United defender.
64th: Ronaldo takes Reid’s rpoor header and drills it to the goal. Friedel gets a finger to it and pushes it just barely to the post. Rovers lucky there.
65th: Throw into the area for United. Bobbled around, played off Nelson’s leg and gathered by Friedel.
67th: Free kick from the mid line into the area, RSC wins the header but the ball just goes over the bar. Good play there.
68th: Corner for united. Attempted sliding clearance by Gamst, but a shot gets off. Brad gets it. Gamst down injured. He looks okay though, comes off but allowed back on.
72nd: Rooney rash again. Foul given but no card. Nelson getting treatment still. Brad to take the kick.
73rd: Blackburn with a free kick whipped into the box but poor. Pederson teals the ball and takes it amazingly right through the defense of United. Whips it across and any touch would have made it a sure goal but, unluckily, it misses everyone. Great attempt.
77th: Samba immense for us. Cleaning up the garbage and clearing the danger.
79th: Rooney with a shot on goal, smothered by Friedel.
80th: FRIEDEL HAS JUST SAVED THE GAME. I hop we find a highlights reel, words can’t express the save he’s just made. The reel will be about 20 minutes long. This game is phenomenal.
81: O’Shea on for Brown.
83rd: United throwing the kitchen sink at us. Corner quickly taken. Chaos ensues, Rovers get lucky. It all ends up with a Friedel kick.
85th: Rooney denied by Friedel again. He has saved this game for us.
86th: Vogel out, Axe on
87th: Freekick for united….O’Shea denied by Friedel from point blank. Amazing.
88th: The corner gets whipped in, Scholes heads to Tevez who heads it in: 1-1.
90th: Corner for United. Rooney out; Park on
4 MIN ADDED ON
Long throw for Rovers. Cleared away. Ball going back and forth no real chances.