[caption id=attachment_1867" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Picture courtesy of cn174][/caption]With the season drawing towards an end, it is interesting to once again take a look at Rovers players out on loan to see if they will have any future at Ewood Park or if they should be moved on in the upcoming summer transfer window. Jason Brown (Cardiff City) appears to be third choice at the moment, with Stephen Bywater being the preferred number one and Heaton as his back-up. As I understand it, he could be back at his old club Gillingham next season. El Hadji Diouf (Glasgow Rangers) is playing on a regular basis, but has been on the bench for the last couple of games. I can’t see him staying at Ewood next season without a change of manager. Aaron Doran (Inverness CT) has been playing on a regular basis in the side and has scored once in 8 appearances. Amine Linganzi (PNE) was injured after just one game and has not featured since. Frank Fielding (Derby County) is interesting in that he helped Derby to 6th place during his first loan spell and after returning to Rovers they dropped to 16th position. On the bench on Saturday, he is one for the future and a decent keeper. We should keep him if we can, but he is good enough for a first team spot at least at Championship level. Gavin Gunning (Motherwell) has made 12 appearances since joining on loan in January and has had decent ratings in the SPL and it looks as though he could be one for the future. Zak Aley (Morecambe) has made one start and two substitute appearances. He has not made any headlines, but he could be a late developer. I have seen this lad firsthand and he has a little bit about him which could take him through to first team in a couple of years. Jason Lowe (Oldham) has made five starts to date scoring two goals, the last one on Saturday, and appears to be making a good impression on manager Paul Dickov. After 10 goals for Motherwell on loan, Nick Blackman followed manager Craig Brown to Aberdeen. Things have not worked out for him at the Dons and he was only on the bench on Saturday, having scored just once in 10 games. Interestingly Myles Anderson didn’t even make the bench for Aberdeen last Saturday!! View full article

Man United Reserves (0) 1 – 2 (2) Rovers Reserves Petrucci 64 (pen) Rochina 21, 31 [caption id=attachment_2209" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Reserves with Trophy][/caption]A young Rovers Reserves side, bolstered by the return of loanees Josh Morris, Jason Lowe and Zak Aley along with the experienced Nikola Kalinic, lifted the Reserve League North title with a hard-earned 2-1 win at Old Trafford last night in the Barclays Premier Reserve League Northern Section play-off final against Manchester United Reserves. There can be little doubt that the star of the show up to his departure through injury was Ruben Rochina, who scored a brace of goals, one a 25-yard screamer into the top corner. Rochina's ability on the ball, movement and vision caused United real problems and in the end it took an over-the-top challenge by Reece Brown to bring an end to his involvement in the game. Rochina had to be replaced by Micah Evans after sustaining a shoulder injury in the challenge, for which Brown was deservedly booked. Young right full-back Henley was having a decent game against the experienced Obertan and first-team regular Darren Fletcher was not given the freedom of the park in midfield, where Potts stood out as being a useful player. Having replaced the injured Rochina, Micah Evans showed a great turn of pace bursting through the United defence before shooting narrowly over the bar. Evans then closed down the United keeper and the ball fell to Formica, who, with virtually an open goal, bent the ball wide of the far post. Formica did look lively, though a little lightweight at times, and one great turn saw him race through and chip the United keeper. Unfortunately the ball just went over the bar. United got back into the game when Rovers midfielder Parry slid in needlessly to give United a penalty. United's Petrucci made no mistake from the spot. Petrucci looks a most accomplished player and has great passing ability and vision. Zak Aley, on his return from a spell at Accy Stanley, didn't do much for me. As for the other loanees returning to the fold, Josh Morris came into the game in the second half playing well at left-back, while Jason Lowe did well too against a decent Man U outfit. At the back, Grant Hanley had a good game as did the whole of the back four, with Bunn solid in goal and making three or four excellent stops. Rovers won the game by playing as a real team, with all the players working for each other. Indeed, when United had the ball, Rovers quickly got so many bodies behind the ball it made life extremely difficult for them to break down Rovers' defence. In my opinion, Gary Bowyer set the lads up well and they really responded to him, so well done, lads. It's always good to win at the Theatre of Screams!! Rovers Reserves now travel to Stamford Bridge on Monday for the final against Reserve League South winners Chelsea to determine who will be crowned this season's Reserve League champions. Rovers line-up Bunn, Henley, Morris, Lowe, Hanley ©, Parry, Formica, Potts, Kalinic (Hitchcock 65), Rochina (Evans 53), Aley (Ramm 79) Subs not used: Kean (gk), Pearson Manager: Gary Bowyer View full article

[caption id=attachment_825" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Picture Courtesy of CN174][/caption]Saturday sets up an intriguing and most important encounter with Birmingham City. Since 2002 the clubs have met thirteen times with honours shared, five wins each and three draws. Prior to that, I recall a cup match at Ewood against a third division Birmingham City who were managed by the enigmatic Barry Fry. Indeed, it is not so long ago they had a priest exorcise St Andrews as it was felt it was doomed, and from that point Birmingham have elevated themselves back to the top tier of English football. Over the years right up to the present time there have been a significant number of links with Rovers. Howard Kendall was a player there, making over 100 appearances, and PFA chairman Gordon Taylor joined Rovers from them to form a right/left-wing partnership with the wonderful David Wagstaffe. Both Martin Taylor and Damien Johnson left Rovers for Birmingham and each enjoyed a long and successful spell at St Andrews. Recently, though, the links become quite alarming: Robbie Savage joined Rovers from City and former Rovers Barry Ferguson and David Bentley will be expected to feature on Saturday along with Matty Derbyshire, not to mention the towering Nikola Zigic, who was allegedly a transfer target of Rovers prior to joining Birmingham. Finally, Seb Larsson has been recently linked to Rovers, which is quite an extraordinary amount of players linked between our two clubs. Saturday, as many posters on this messageboard have said, is a must-win game for Rovers in our quest for Premiership safety. Both sides enter the games on 34 points after encouraging performances — our draw at Arsenal was a great and well-earned result whilst City did well to defeat a Bolton side who are currently eighth in the table. Birmingham, despite their position, do have a number of good, high-profile players. Obefemi Martins can be dangerous on his day as can Jerome, and who can discount the veteran striker Kevin Phillips, who bagged the opening goal against Bolton last week. In midfield they have the former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb, Barry Ferguson and David Bentley, along with Rovers target Seb Larsson. Matty Derbyshire may also be on the bench and it would be fate were he to score at Ewood if he were to play a part in the match. At the back, Ben Foster is a decent keeper, Stephen Carr is a strong and influential skipper who takes no prisoners at right back and Liam Ridgewell is a seasoned professional, too. On paper, no easy task for Rovers, but paper counts for nothing — it's how we perform on the day. With the quality and experience in midfield City have, I would expect Steve Kean to start with both the line-up and system we played at the Emirates — we looked compact and sharp on the break. Perhaps, in my opinion, I would make a change up top. Birmingham aren't the quickest at the back and I would think Kalinic may be preferred to Roque. We must watch for Larsson's deliveries, though, as Zigic at 6' 8" will be a handful in the air along with the overlaps of Stephen Carr, who can by sheer drive and determination cause problems. If Rovers set themselves up with both the system and mindset we showed at the Emirates, we can get three points from this game. Let's hope it's the same Rovers who turn up as other fixtures next week would give us the opportunity of having a nice 5-point gap from the relegation area. View full article