IT’S SHEAR GRIT IN BID TO STAY UP

BLACKBURN had special ‘Shearer 9’ blue and white cupcakes made last night in honour of their greatest player from their 1995 titlewinning side.

They cheekily left some in the BBC television box at Ewood Park in the hope Alan Shearer (below) and presenter Gary Lineker would indulge in them.

That was a throwback to those glory days and the Rovers of today are more concerned with the Championship relegation scrap than winning the Premier League.

They will settle for survival after a testing few weeks, which saw Jon Dahl

Tomasson quit as manager when the club messed up Duncan Mcguire’s signing on deadline day.

Tomasson’s replacement, John Eustace, has not won any of his first four league games as he attempts to stabilise Rovers. Eustace has introduced a morepragmatic style in contrast to Tomasson’s passing game and Rovers are more compact and harder to beat.

This new steeliness was evident last night and they were the better side in the first hour against Newcastle.

The visitors were poor and Blackburn were denied the lead when Tyrhys Dolan’s goalbound shot was saved by Martin Dubravka before the goalkeeper touched over a Sammie Szmodics shot.

The home fans enjoyed taunting Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier because of his Burnley past and used BBC’S live coverage to protest against their Indian owners, the Venky’s. They chose the 14th minute to mark 14 years of their control by chanting “we want Venky’s out” and throwing tennis balls on to the pitch.

Blackburn improved as the game wore on and the 37-year-old Kyle Mcfadzean, who had not played for three months before joining on loan last month, poleaxed the ineffective Alexander Isak.

There was much to like about their display and they showed all the fight they will need in the coming weeks to stay up.