Sunday, August 30, 2009

Blackburn Rovers 0 West Ham United 0


The Premier League game between Blackburn and West Ham United at Ewood Park on Saturday Aug 29, 2009.

Ray Clemence came to watch Paul Robinson and Robert Green in action ahead of England's matches against Slovenia and Croatia but, such was the nature of this dire game, there will be little he can tell Fabio Capello other than that both take decent goal kicks and that you still get a reasonable cup of tea at Ewood Park.

Neither goalkeeper was forced into a save of any note as Blackburn Rovers, with one goal in three Premier League matches, struggled to support lone striker Jason Roberts or cope with the new-found backbone Gianfranco Zola has given West Ham.

At least Clemence could inform the Italian that Carlton Cole once again lived up to his new-found status as a regular in the England squad with an impressive performance, which saw him create each of his chances on goal.

Jason Roberts had already touched wide of goal after Chris Samba flicked on David Dunn's free kick when Cole started to make his presence felt.

He picked the ball up with his back to goal and played it around Lars Jacobsen and Samba, outpacing the former and shrugging off the latter, before shooting high and wide from a narrow angle.

Morten Gamst Pedersen's free kick deflected off the wall straight to Green before Samba had an effort deflected over from the edge of the area and Keith Andrews glanced wide from Dunn's corner.

Cole was at it again just after the restart, again receiving the ball deep and heading straight for goal only for a powerful drive to fly just over Robinson's bar.

The hosts were growing increasingly frustrated as Samba's header flew kindly to Green and then Dunn played through for David Hoilett only for the substitute to hit the side netting.

When Sam Allardyce finally decided to throw on his new signing Niko Kalinic, he took off Roberts, his only other forward, but Blackburn went close again from a quick counter attack when Dunn slid through for Hoilett, whose chip beat Green but landed on the roof of the net.

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