[Archived] Rovers 1 - 0 Crystal Palace

[den]

And to finish off the happy bit -

How lucky are we, to support rovers. I could have been a PNE, Burnley or Blackpool fan. There's loads of 'em round here.

Just imagine what the last 20 years would have been like. I'd have missed my team:

winning the Premier league title,

winning the full members cup,

winning the Worthington cup,

finishing in the playoffs three seasons in succession,

winning the first division play off final at Wembley,

Playing in the European cup,

playing in the UEFA cup,

playing at Wembley in the charity shield,

watching the best striker ever seen in my time watching football, playing for rovers.

It could have been a lot worse, couldn't it. I could have supported one the aforementioned clubs and seen -

nothing

[jobo380]

Pedersen is the least of our problems at the moment and i think for the near future, we still need to concentrate on our obvious weaknesses, but i agree with den that it really good to go into a game not having a care in the world....except when will stead score?

[T4E]

Got a phone call from the Orange Press Office this morning................guess who has won Andy Todd's shirt from last night's MOTM vote?

     

£50 for it ?

On the same theme Paul, might be a nice item to auction off the next time the site needs a bit of cash. Wouldn't blame you for wanting to keep hold of it though!!!

[The Producer]

Dowie on elbow incident.

He says there it was a 19 year old, which rules out the possibility of it being Michael Hughes. I quite like the rest of that speech, especially the bit about him keeping in house until we play again...that's the way football should be.

Or you could translate it as "I'm stating on the record that I'll instruct one of my players to injure Savage the next time we play", which I would argue is NOT the way football should be!

The big plus points last night were Stead and Reid (the latter on recent form not just last night). Dickov's injury now looks like a plus point if it gets Stead another 5 full games and he continues his impressive improvements in his all-round game. IF, and admittedly it might be a big "If" we can improve their finishing over the summer then we have 2 genuinely good Premiership players on our hands. If Reid could become even an average finisher then he could easily get 10+ goals a season.

[Gareth]

finishing in the playoffs three seasons in succession

The gloss is kinda taken off by the fact that twice we lost in the semi-final (including a 4-1 trashing by Chelsea) & blew a 3-1 lead in the 2nd leg of the final vs Palace

Edited April 21, 2005 by Gareth

[den]

finishing in the playoffs three seasons in succession

The gloss is kinda taken off by the fact that twice we lost in the semi-final (including a 4-1 trashing by Chelsea) & blew a 3-1 lead in the 2nd leg of the final vs Palace

Burnley, Blackpool and PNE were in the third or fourth divisions at that point, I believe.

Their fans would have been in raptures at that kind of success.

[Gareth]

finishing in the playoffs three seasons in succession

The gloss is kinda taken off by the fact that twice we lost in the semi-final (including a 4-1 trashing by Chelsea) & blew a 3-1 lead in the 2nd leg of the final vs Palace

Burnley, Blackpool and PNE were in the third or fourth divisions at that point, I believe.

Their fans would have been in raptures at that kind of success.

True...

There's also the bonus of us having beat those teams every time we've played 'em

Slightly off-topic (sorry!) but when was the last time we played Blackpool?

[den]

finishing in the playoffs three seasons in succession

The gloss is kinda taken off by the fact that twice we lost in the semi-final (including a 4-1 trashing by Chelsea) & blew a 3-1 lead in the 2nd leg of the final vs Palace

Burnley, Blackpool and PNE were in the third or fourth divisions at that point, I believe.

Their fans would have been in raptures at that kind of success.

True...

There's also the bonus of us having beat those teams every time we've played 'em

Slightly off-topic (sorry!) but when was the last time we played Blackpool?

In the manx cup? Not sure about the league.

One memory of mine, was rovers versus Blackpool at Bloomfield road in the sixties. It was in the first division [proper first division] and was, I'm lead to believe, the last ever game played on Christmas day.

Mum wasn't too impressed with me going to football Christmas day.

[Gareth]

finishing in the playoffs three seasons in succession

The gloss is kinda taken off by the fact that twice we lost in the semi-final (including a 4-1 trashing by Chelsea) & blew a 3-1 lead in the 2nd leg of the final vs Palace

Burnley, Blackpool and PNE were in the third or fourth divisions at that point, I believe.

Their fans would have been in raptures at that kind of success.

True...

There's also the bonus of us having beat those teams every time we've played 'em

Slightly off-topic (sorry!) but when was the last time we played Blackpool?

In the manx cup? Not sure about the league.

One memory of mine, was rovers versus Blackpool at Bloomfield road in the sixties. It was in the first division [proper first division] and was, I'm lead to believe, the last ever game played on Christmas day.

Mum wasn't too impressed with me going to football Christmas day.

Should've told her it was your present to her as the house'd be nice & quiet for a few hours!

Edited April 21, 2005 by Gareth

[USABlue]

On the Pedersen thing I have to agree, can't beat his man, gives the ball away a lot and is easily dispossed. Three things I think he CAN improve on. However we can not leave him out because he is the only one at the moment who can bring one bit of individual brilliance to win us a game. the lad can finish, he's lost his way a bit on the set poeces but I think his form will return. To me he has been as important to us this year as Jon Stead was last.

[Paul]

Got a phone call from the Orange Press Office this morning................guess who has won Andy Todd's shirt from last night's MOTM vote?

 

£50 for it ?

On the same theme Paul, might be a nice item to auction off the next time the site needs a bit of cash. Wouldn't blame you for wanting to keep hold of it though!!!

Bugger me I've never, ever won anything wothrwhile before in my entire life and you lot have it sold already. On top of that I've never before had a replica shirt - well I don't count the yellow third strip from 10 years back someone gave me on my 40th - so NO I'm not selling it

Sorry Brownie but I want to keep this one

[todd_could_take_tyson]

When you look for faults, you will find them.

Stead - profligate and has an awful goal scoring record this season

Emerton - rarely produces an end product

Tugay - slow and has an invisible friend

And so on...

Souness warned that MGP was a completely different player to Duff and he's been proved right. If anything he's more of a Freddy Ljungberg type - doesn't do much dribbling but supports the forwards well. There is a bit of improvement in his game required before he can consider himself as good as Ljungberg, though.

All these opinions brought to you folks from rovers6 armchair, must be needing a new armchair soon mr/mrs 6.

[Blue blood]

The only complaint Rovers fans can have is (to borrow a phrase from an ex-manager) lady luck wasn't with us. How we only scored one is beyond me. The centre backs were excellent again. In fact so were the full backs. Routledge had to swap wings he was getting so little out of Matteo. Neill again looked class both defensively and going forward. Emerton showed what he can do when he runs, and along with MGP gives us two wide players who are capable of creating chances, yet at the same time contribute to the fantastic work ethic of the team. Stead looked very promising, a bit more confidence and he would be deadly. Savage looked unfit, and hence IMO the reason for so many stupid tackles. Towards the end I thought we looked tired after Saturday's exploits but all credit to the lads they somehow managed to keep going. Palace are certs to be relegated - they offered nothing.

[Ozz]

Talksport presenter this morning reckons Dowie had Kevin Hitchcock up against the wall by his throat at half time!!!

[den]

Hughes said on Radio this morning, that punches were thrown in the tunnel at half time. He was in the dressing room when it happened, but he's sure that no rovers staff member or player had thrown one. That was for Palace to sort out, he said.

[LeftWinger]

Hughes said on Radio this morning, that punches were thrown in the tunnel at half time. He was in the dressing room when it happened, but he's sure that no rovers staff member or player had thrown one. That was for Palace to sort out, he said.

That'll be his x-ray vision kicking in there.

[den]

Hughes said on Radio this morning, that punches were thrown in the tunnel at half time. He was in the dressing room when it happened, but he's sure that no rovers staff member or player had thrown one. That was for Palace to sort out, he said.

This is what Hughes actually said.

An interesting little interview about the tunnel bust up and a comment about his own management style.

[Nayef]

den that link doesn't work...

[stuwilky]

den that link doesn't work...

did for me.

[den]

Does for me as well.

[den]

From www.soccerweekend.com:

The Premiership

Season 2004/2005

Hughes points finger at Palace

22-Apr-2005 | ©football365.com

Mark Hughes stoked the controversy still lingering over the Robbie Savage's tunnel bust-up in midweek by intimating that punches were thrown by a member of Crystal Palace's coaching staff.

Savage was surrounded by Palace players at half-time at Ewood Park on Wednesday, furious at his challenges on Wayne Routledge, and there was pushing and shoving after other Blackburn players became involved.

Rovers boss Hughes said on Friday: "I was in the dressing room but there were raised voices in the tunnel. You can understand Crystal Palace's frustration, they have not won that many games and it looked like another one was slipping away from them and they reacted in the tunnel, which was disappointing.

"From my point of view, I am clear in my own mind none of my coaching staff or anyone on our management side threw any punches - possibly that can't be said for them."

That 1-0 win secured Blackburn's Premiership status and pushed them into 12th place - something of an achievement considering they were bottom in November.

For Hughes there has been considerable satisfaction in proving wrong those who thought he could not make the transition from Wales boss to club manager.

He said: "I went through a hell of a lot with the Welsh team and that shaped me as a manager and I knew when I had an opportunity at club level I would be able to cope with the demands but other people possibly felt I hadn't paid my dues.

"I think a lot of people were expecting me to fall flat on my face but they don't really know how I work and how I approach the job.

"People might start seeing me as a Premiership manager now - who knows.

"There's satisfaction in having done the job we were brought in to do, it has been difficult and I think people felt I didn't have enough experience.

"But it was a great grounding in my previous job, there were a lot of things people were unaware about and I have used those as a manager for Blackburn."

Rovers are five points behind Saturday's opponents Manchester City with a game in hand, but with a fairly straightforward run of matches could conceivably finish in the top half.

Hughes, though, believes that City have been given new impetus by Stuart Pearce taking over the reins.

"Stuart has done very well in his initial impact - it's usually positive when you get a change, the trick is to keep it going for 10 or 15 games and he knows that," said Hughes.

"So far he's making a good case for getting the job on a permanent basis.

"Shaun Wright-Phillips will also be back, he's a great talent and I had hoped he would still be a week away from his recovery!

"He's a player we have to make sure we are aware of. We may be safe but we can't take our eye off the ball because with the games we have left we have the opportunity to finish even higher up the table."

[1864roverite]

Having been away in Birmingham since the finish of the match I had time to reflect whilst visiting the dark city and its bazaar of curry takeouts and restuarants !

On the way to the match I never once had the feeling that we would lose indeed I would have been happy with a draw and a precious point.

The game started and Rovers pressed pressed and pressed without reward, a serious waste of corner kicks and free kicks had me thinking that any moment Palace would sneal one against the run of play.

bang on half time, MGP picks his spot and the ball eventually nestles in the net, 1-0 Rovers IMO game set and match.

During the half time the lad behind us in the Blackburn End received a text message from a "friend" indicating that there had been trouble in the tunnel as the players walked off, no names no details.

The second half was non stop Rovers, plenty of chances but unable to score. Poor Stead run his socks off, tried and just couldnt get the final finish. His efforts alone deserved a goal even if his finishing let him down. There was no way Palace were going to score even with the non existant clock and board from the Officials.

So, 3 points, safety ensured unless we concede an almighty amount of goals (KEEP AMORUSO AWAY). On the way out an old fella tells me Norwich have scored in the 93rd minutes sending Sounesses' tearful army down the table in freefall, all the other results have gone Rovers way and we are comfortably up the table in 14th.

So on the night, not a pretty game of football but a necessary performance to secure the points. Thats all that mattered.

The downside of our victory was simply the chances that went begging. Matteo, Stead, Emerton and the miss of the season from Reid, who spoiled another great performance in front of the The Blackburn End.

The 17000 faithful were great, plenty of atmosphere and a resounding support for Andy Todd, how quickly the semi final defeat was forgotten.

So where do we go from here ?

well clearly Rovers now face 3 relatively tricky ties. City are on a roll but a win for us will put us 2 points behind them. Then its the two midland games away. WBA are gonna be well and truly up for it as it is their game in hand. They should be on a high following the recent results however I see this to Rovers advantage. Playing on the break will suit us here.

Brum away next Saturday is the game they will all be wanting to see in the Midlands. The return of the former HERO to his former hunting ground. Its another game I see Rovers getting another positive result. How nice it will be to see that fat pig Brady's smug face when they get beat !

In The Balti Bazaar in Birmingham last night I had the pleasure of the company of a blue nose. An interesting chat and he informed me that the fans have a surprise for our Robbie next weekend.

Cant wait

[Friarsnig]

I think the only thing that would surprise Robbie Savage would be a good reception from the Brummies!

He should warm up in a Villa shirt for a laugh!

[trueblue]

Palace would sneal one against the run of play.

sneal ?? is that something in between 'sneak' and 'steal' ??

[robbojohnno]

comfortably up the table in 14th.

12th