The famous Blue and Whites put on a show today in front of a rockin house of 24,845 at Ewood Park. Three goals brought the Rovers three points and their first win, as well their first home goals.

Not being able to watch the game really can be the worst some time, but you know as well as I that sometimes we just gotta roll with the punches.

Highlights after the jump, but some really promising signs about the game.
1. We won. Can’t overstate the importance of getting that first win and 3 points under the belt.
2. We scored 3 goals. Dunny seems to be the spark we need and if he stays fit, we could find up setting up and scoring a ton of goals.

Quite upset we didn’t keep the clean sheet, with Rovers’ defense spacing out on the Wolves goal. And while the win was against lower opposition, confidence is needed at this point of the term.

Rovers take on Everton Sunday, but not the Everton we’re used to. This Everton team sits in 19th with a pretty lame duck start by their standards as a side usually pushing top 6. Hopefully we can go in and attack right from jump street and take them out of the game early and quickly. I’m calling a hard but deserving 2-0win for Rovers as our win streak grows to 2 with goals from Dunn and Roberts.

The game we be delayed aired on FSC in the States, so better late than never eh? We’ll see. UP THE ROVERS!

So basically I’m saying tune in for the live blog tomorrow. Unless there’s no feed. Because then there will be no live blog.

Hope to (maybe) see you there!

I’ll be honest here; this is a must win game. After this game we have league games against Everton and Villa, with a league cup game v Notts Forrest thrown in between those games.

Then after Villa and the retrn of big Brad and Stephen Warnock, we have Le Arse, Chelski, The B@stards, and ManUre.

This is a must win game.

Hopefully we will have a lot of players to choose from. Emerton is close to making a comeback, and Dunn, Reidy and Grella all should have used these 7 days extra to get back into shape and fit. Here’s the team I would put out:

——————-Robbo———————
Jacobsen Samba Givet Chimbonda
Dioufy Dunn Nzonzi Pederson
Benni (if fit) Kalinic

Wolves have earned 4 points from their 4 games but should be ours for the taking. If we go out and play solid defensively (like we have been lately) and our strikers can get some shots on target, we should pull out the 3 points.

Any thoughts about the game? Your XI you would field? As always, let me know and UP THE ROVERS!

But enough with this witchcraft bogey side. I think we have a chance come Saturday. Hell, more than a chance, I think we’ll walk away from this one with all three points.

West ham have a win and loss, and that win came against Prem noobs Wolves. They were beaten by Spuds most recently, and sit only a few table places above us on 3 points.

We all know the beginning of the season is no time to make any calls about any team and what they’re outcome will be. But you can never argue against getting points early and often, and this is the game ot get our first ones after dominating in our last two showings. Hopefully the team worked on just shooting the ball into the net this past week and are ready for tomorrow.

Fans in the USofA, this one won’t be on TV until a replay of it on Setanta US at 6:45pm EST. Feel free to leave any comments or predictions about the game below. Personally, I think it will be 2-0 Rovers. We’ll see tomorrow!

Here’s how we’re looking: Robinson, Brown, Jacobsen, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Khizanishvili, Warnock, Olsson, Diouf, Hoilett, van Heerden, Doran, Nzonzi, Andrews, Pedersen, McCarthy, Roberts, Di Santo.

Look at that list and remember who’s out and doubtful and try and build a solid starting XI. Our midfield can’t even be completed let alone compete. Very worried about what we could see if Nelson and Samba don’t make the cut.

Citeh will be probably fielding a 1-0-9 formation, with a team looking like this according to SkySports:
Given, Richards, Dunne, Toure, Bridge; Wright-Phillips, Barry, Ireland, Bellamy; Robinho, Tevez.

Let me just say, I am looking forward to a win. But if we draw or even lose I can not say I’ll be surprised. I just hope the boys are ready to get the season going the right way.

Now the invitation. I invite all Rovers fan in the NYC area to make the trek into the NYC and come watch the game with me and a bunch of other Rovers fans at Nevada Smiths. We’ll be there a little before kick off and through out the match so please come by if you are able to.

Hopefully the next post will be a victory review. Until then, come on new season AND UP THE ROVERS!

Happy Trails

Andre Ooijer’s long speculated departure back to PSV Eindhoven has been confirmed by the club as well by the Dutchman on the offish site. I for one will always think fondly of the defense man, and think he was always a very vital part of the back line. 29 start 2 sub appearances 2 goals and No red cards and 2 assists this season. Not too shabby. Extremely happy with Gael Givet though as a replacement, the man has been immense. Rovers need to sign him but that’s another post for another day. Still, best of luck to Andre back home at PSV, thanks for the 3 years of service.

Carlos Villanueva. Ah, we barely knew thee. Reports here(click) and here(different click) have reported that King Carlos, the favorite pineapple head, has signed a deal with Al Shabab. Skill and touch were never a question about the boy, but speed and physicality were always two department that the Rovers management never seem to think he had enough of. Thanks for the effort Mr. Chile.

ROVERS SLASH SEASON TICKET PRICES

Boom. Slashed. The Rovers love their fans, and this ridiculous “Crucial 3″ program the Rovers launched brought in about 4000 extra heads at Ewood. Class. Rovers saw how successful this worked and good on the Trust and the Club (and John Williams) for making great football more accessible to the masses.

WBA Sunday

So the last game of the term. A very, very, long and winding road. Some ups, and a lot of downs. But we’re safe, and we’ve made it. Now, time to earn another 750K and hopefully move up a slot on the league table. WBA has already been relegated so they are ours for the taking. Time to drop some knowledge:
IN: Ooijer and Givet should be back.
Out: The Admiral (torn a calf muscle), Roque(giving an interview in Paraguay) and Roberts (fractured metatarsal).

So, here’s to a good weekend. For the Americans reading, have a safe Memorial Day weekend. Let’s go out on a high this season Rovers!

Striker Jason Roberts is hopeful about retuning to this starting XI this term while battling a stress fracture affecting his third metatarsal. He remains optimistic and will helpfully be ready for the Wigan game.

The Stoke game is this Saturday and Vince Grella is hoping to play apart. Hvaing played for the reserves this week, the midfielder is anxious to get a run out and prove himself. He told the official website, “I still have six games where I want to give my contribution, whether it is big or small, to Blackburn.” Promising to hear. A little added depth never hurt anyone.

Stoke’s form has been quite good in the last 6 matches. D W L W W D go the order of their last results, taking 11 points from a possible 18. Rovers will hopefully bring the same fighting spirit they had against Spuds (and didn’t have against L’pool) to the Britannia. My optimism is high though as the the news of the traveling fans making the trip will mean the Rovers will have some great support. From the O-site:

Rovers will have the backing of almost 3000 supporters from Lancashire down for the game, the offer of free away travel combined with a game of huge importance means all of the tickets allocated to the club have sold out.

Exciting.

Benni Mac will hopefully get the start and Samba will hopefully play defense as Rovers look tp climb the ladder up from 16th and add to the 4 point safety they cling onto. UP THE ROVERS!

The Hammers are sitting pretty comfortably in the top half, holding onto the 7th place with 40 points and fighting for a place in the UEFA Europa League. Robert Green has recovered from the knock he picked up during the Hammers’ Monday game and fill be starting between the sticks against us. West ham also won 4-1 in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign.

Lucash Neill, ex Rover extraordinaire will be captaining the West Ham side like usual, but it always does the heart good when we beat him.

Points are points and boy do we need three. We could also use some luck in the resukts of the teams aorund us but if all goes according to plan, while we won’t jump too much higher in the league ladder, we will put some space between us and the bottom three. So lets shake off the Le Arse crushing and come out string. Some solid, physical work to take out their jets and confidence, a goal or two early and we’ll be on our way. UP THE ROVERS!

Both Hull and Rovers saw themselves reduced to 10 men, MGP sent off for a second yellow just after being involved in the altercation that got Marney sent off for the Tigers. The vital three points boosted Rovers up out of the drop zone and on 26 points but in 17th on Goal difference.

Goals from Stephen Warnock (seen here-click) as well as Andrews (viewable here – click) were enough to give Rovers the edge, though in typical Rovers style left it till late to make it a guaranteed win with some shoddy defending. (I’d post the highlights in here but they’re kinda odd looking, so the links will do for this week.)

Paul Robinson was substituted at the half after sustaining a shoulder injury. He’s probably not going to start tomorrow, but that doesn’t worry me too much. Jason Brown made some wonderful saves, especially at the end of the match, when he came on, so I’m confident he’ll do a good enough job. It’s just up to that back four to give him a bit of help.

Dunn appears fit for selection following a hamstring problem but it’s still up in the air as to whether he’ll be rushed back. Pederson, for his red card, wills serve his match ban tomorrow, but aside from him, Big Sam has a full squad to pick from.

Everton will be no small task. In their last 6 matches, they’re in decent form: L W W W D W and that loss came to ManUre. The match is home at Ewood and while Everton has hasn’t had a fully fit squad in forever, they still continue to tear it up in the league. Timmy Howard will prove hard to beat but a win tomorrow would certainly be a boost to everything- survival, morale, confidence. So let’s hope the lads come out strong. UP THE ROVERS!

Tomorrow we play the side that knocked us out of the third round last January. Coventry is also on a good bit of form lately, kind of, but Rovers should still 100% win this game even with Sam shuffling the pack. 3-1 win at home, Rovers move on.

Now, There seems to be two prevailing schools of thought entering this game:

1.That the Cup is not a priority and the Prem is our only concern, I don’t care if we win or lose tomorrow.
2.The FA Cup is still the best cup competition in the world and we should be attacking this and the Prem on a 2 front total war to stay up and hold the cup.

So I’m asking, in this tricky league situation but still in the cup at the point, how big of a priority is it for you?