Ewood Park bathed in the sun of a Saturday afternoon as the six or eight thousand traveling fans made the atmosphere sparkle.  Three decisons changed the game.  Despite the interference of the referee and his assistant the game had plenty of talking points but not goals. 

 

The trip to Blackburn meant plenty of Blues fans had made the trip to Ewood Park.  The weather was pleasant enough and the pitch was in pretty decent condition.  Teams with European aspirations doing battle, the sort of game against your rivals that is more important than the games against the top three, perhaps. 

 

Without some key players Hughes has to make do in defence.  Friedel keeps goal behind a makeshift back four of Emerton, Ooijer, Khizanishvili and Warnock. 

A five man midfield includes the recently called up England man Bentley alongside Reid, Derbyshire, Dunn and Pederson, Santa Cruz occupies the lone role up front in a 451 with the emphasis on width and defence. 

TURNER IS ABOUT 5'10" or 6' SO A STANDARD SIZED COFFIN WOULD BE ABOUT RIGHT...

 

Moyes battered by injuries and ACoN absentees picks a pretty standard 4 4 1 1.  Howard keeps goal, Neville drops into the defence alongside Capello favourite, Lescott, Jagielka and Baines.  Carsley sits in front of the back four alongside Fernandes, Osman plays on the left with Arteta on the right.  Cahill operates behind Johnson in attack.

 

As early of the second minute Blackburn show that they have been watching and preparing for the visit of Everton, Santa Cruz easily evades his marker and gets behind Carsley at the front post but glances his header just wide. 

Two sides with one foot in the 'clean sheet then score' camp provide a scrappy opening; space and time are at a premium as defence and midfield are solid and clogged respectively. 

Friedel's first real test comes after Lescott romps upfield and plays in Neville, the cross is good but Johnson's run isn't and the big American stopper comes to claim the cross. 

The visitors start to dominate possession but don't really do much with it.

SPOT THE BALL

Dunn gets a yellow for a tackle on Arteta. 

Blackburn's strength on the wide positions is demonstrated with a cunning Pederson free kick. 

Everton pressure from the right sees Arteta play some give and go with Cahill, space opens up for the Spaniard and Friedel does well to parry the ball wide, from the corner kick an Osman drive narrowly misses the upright. 

Bentley demonstrates his intent as Everton display their closing down and the shot goes well high. 

Dunn is bamboozled by a cheeky Neville flick so deliberately uses his hand to win the ball.  Riley is only a few yards away and gives the foul but mysteriously decides that the rules for 'deliberate handball' don't apply this afternoon and all Dunn gets is a brief chat. 

More Everton pressure and another corner kick and Jagielka's stab is headed off the line from Dunn. 

 

Neither manager makes half time changes. 

 

The first half starts with a wh!z b@ng wh@llop. 

Bentley forces a good save from Howard as he breaks down the right channel and unleashes an unexpected low drive.  Howard clears his lines quickly and Everton are on the counter, good work down the left see the ball arrive at Cahill's feet, he spots the late run of Fernandes and lays the perfect ball on a plate for the Portuguese midfielder.  The away fans behind the goal groan as Fernandes manages to whack the ball straight at Friedel. 

The play calms down but Everton retain the ball better and attack better, they aren't able to really test Friedel. 

Arteta has his range on the dead ball deliveries and a fantastic cross from the right is too good for anybody else on the pitch and sails harmless through the six yard box at the perfect height for the merest of glances to turn it in the net. 

The game drags on and starts to get feisty, two or three dodgy calls from Greg Turner, one classic in which Arteta is bustled off the ball from behind his flag goes up for a Blackburn throw in and Riley comes rumbled over from thirty odd yards away and reverses the awful and wrong decision. 

Fernandes hits the base of a much relieved Friedel from a free kick. 

Hughes makes a second change and turns the game, Tugay replaces Derbyshire which added to the inclusion previously of McCarthy gives Blackburn that boost up front and in the middle.  The game is more open now with Blackburn able to keep the ball, build pressure and threaten Howard. 

Late on Vaughn shows great desire and beats a Blackburn defender to the ball, Friedel comes out but Vaughn shows his mettle with a challenge against Friedel that wins the ball, the Everton substitute is first to the loose ball and hooks it into the path of the onside Johnson, the Everton striker rounds and Khizanishvili and scores.  Only when the ball is in the net does Mr. Turner raise his flag for offside.

GLEN, WORLD CUP OR NOT YOU GOT IT WRONG YESTERDAY!

Tugay has a late chance and to end the game Santa Cruz gets free in the area and smashes the ball just over the crossbar. 

 

Everton played well enough considering they fielded two players carrying knocks and a third who is not fully match fit.  They played well in parts against a difficult opponent and created some good chances that they failed to take.  When they did take them they were penalized.  Had they played the match against the ten men following Dunn's handball things may have been different. 

A point away isn't too bad a result and we are still in fourth.  The team is missing Yakubu, Pienaar and Yobo. 

 

Hughes played a makeshift back four that managed to keep a clean sheet.  His substitutions made the game closer than it should have been and he got lucky with some wrong decisions.  His team is built to be hard and tough but that hampers the goal threat.  Considering a point against a top four team is quite a good result for Sparky.  His moaned about McCarthy not getting a penalty can be ignored, he was fifty yards away at the time. 

 

Riley was his usual good self.  Plenty of common sense applied and officiated with a smile and without getting flustered. 

Three decisions changed the game. 

First only he knows why he ignored the following and let Dunn continue to play. 

 

Disciplinary sanctions

There are circumstances when a caution for unsporting behaviour

is required when a player deliberately handles the ball, e.g. when a

player:

• deliberately and blatantly handles the ball to prevent an opponent

gaining possession

 

Second he ran thirty or more yards to correct a wrong call from the near touchline assistant referee, Glen Turner. 

Third he didn't stop play when McCarthy went down quicker than a strumpet's knickers at Mardi Gras under the challenge of Jagielka. 

Glen Turner may have gone to Germany to officiate at the World Cup but his wrong offside decision against Andy Johnson was poor form.  You can see it in his mind, "these blue boys have been shouting at me all this half, and I'll show them".  If an assistant doesn't actually know how to recognize what an offside is or isn't then he shouldn't be on the touchline. 

 

Blackburn Rovers:-

Friedel

Emerton

Ooijer

Khizanishvili

Warnock

Derbyshire (Tugay 73)

Bentley

Reid

Dunn (McCarthy 56)

Pedersen

Santa Cruz

 

 

Bookings:-

Dunn

Khizanishvili

Emerton

Pedersen

 

Goals:-

 

 

Everton:-

Howard

Neville

Lescott

Jagielka

Baines

Arteta

Carsley

Fernandes

Osman (Vaughn 75)

Cahill

Johnson

 

Bookings:-

Howard

Arteta

 

Goals:-

 

Attendance:-

27946

 

Referee:-

Alan Wiley

 

 

Images courtesy of Evertonfc.com

Images courtesy of BBC.co.uk