Rovers v Portsmouth - Match Report

New manager, new coach, new Moorings. It was a new dawn for me today and boy was I looking forward to it. So, it was a complete surprise to find out that the same team was starting that had performed so pathetically up at Newcastle. Oh well, I'm sure Hughesy had a plan. We started off poorly and didn't get any better throughout the first half. It was like Souness had never left. We had lots of possession but failed to threaten a poor Portsmouth team, in fact, Portsmouth should have gone in at half time in front. Berkovich was injured and substitued on about the half hour mark and was replaced by Stone. Suddenly Pompey looked more solid, had a bit more steel in their midfield, and had much more purpose going forward. They bossed the last 15 minutes of the half and should have scored when Fuller barged through Gray and Matteo to leave himself one-on-one with Friedel. Thankfully he hit the outside of the post. We came out in the second half and were simply unrecognisable. All of a sudden we had drive, passion, determination, and no small amont of skill. We pushed up the field a good 15 - 20 yards as a unit and pinned Portsmouth into their own half. The likes of Emerton, Gray and Dickov were driving forward and running at players, something it seemed they hadn't even thought about in the first half. The real catalyst though was Mark Hughes's first tactical substitution as a Rovers manager (Amoruso had replaced Short earlier but that was forced by an injury). Off came the totally ineffective Pedersen and on came Matt Jansen. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Rovers player receive a better reception. Rovers continued to press, winning numerous corners and free-kicks in dangerous positions but failing to convert them. But there was something funny in the air - a strange, almost intangible feeling - was it hope? Whereas the crowd may have been discouraged in the past by our failure to turn possession into goals, this time we just roared the team on. Boy did it work. We just battered and battered Portsmouth into submission. Neill picked the ball up in his own half and drove at the heart of Portsmouth's defence. Fourty yards out he hit a perfectly weighted ball towards Matt Jansen's right foot on the edge of the Pompey area. Jansen controlled the ball, rolled it onto his favoured left foot all in one movement, stumbled, got up, and then belted an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net. The crowd went fecking mental. We looked world-beaters after that. Boothroyd look a class above any of our other forwards. He ran at defenders with real pace and power and actually had the confidence to shoot. We started playing screen passes with the forwards on the edge of Pompey's box and we actually had players running onto them. Instead of hanging on for a win we looked like we'd score again. We battered Portsmouth in that second half. We shouldn't get carried away though. We could easily have been 2 down before we scored. I mentioned Fuller's chance earlier but I didn't mention the time in the second half when Yakubu just barged past a hapless Matteo and blazed over when it seemed easier to score. Pompey also had a good shout for a penalty near the end when Friedel appeared to bundle over Fuller. Still, who gives a ... I thought Dickov was lively and gave the Portsmouth defenders no respite. Emerton was inspirational in the second half, running from deep, taking people on, driving to the heart of the defence, unlucky not to score. Yes Emerton! Ferguson passed the ball superbly throughout. He's not as mobile as I'd thought he'd be but he's fantastically cultured in midfield. He looked class today. Flitcroft got stuck in and gave their midfield no time at all. Gray had a great second half. Bothroyd looked genuinely class when he came on. Negatives? Pedersen was awful again. Terrible, shocking, poor. "He's young", "it's a new league", "he'll need time" etc.....rubbish, he's not up to it at the moment. He should be dropped until he is. Neill gave the ball away constantly. We need a new right back to pressurise Neill because I think he's become complacent. Stead didn't look sharp today - he'll struggle to get back into the team now I'd say. Matteo made a couple of glaring mistakes that could have cost goals. Portsmouth were poor today and so were we in the first half. We improved massively in the second half thanks to some good substitutions and a bit of luck, but don't think we're world-beaters all of a sudden. We're not. But there is a sense of hope now - something that has missing for some time at Ewood. Match report written by Scotty

Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Short (Amoruso 41), Matteo, Gray, Emerton, Ferguson, Flitcroft, Pedersen (Jansen 58), Stead (Bothroyd 64), Dickov. Subs Not Used: Tugay, Enckelman. Goals: Jansen 75. Portsmouth: Hislop, Primus, Stefanovic, Unsworth, Griffin, Berkovic (Stone 35), Faye, Quashie, Berger (Kamara 76), Fuller, Yakubu. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Cisse, Ashdown. Booked: Griffin, Stefanovic, Fuller. Att: 20,647. Ref: M Clattenburg (Co Durham).

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