GOMEZ CONJURES A MAGIC MOMENT
PAUL Lambert labelled Jordi Gomez’s winner “world class” after the Sunderland loanee struck twice to help Blackburn beat MK Dons.
Two of the lowest scoring sides in the division defied the form book to deliver a five-goal thriller at Ewood Park.
The hosts fought back from a goal down at half-time – Gomez and Elliott Bennett netting – before the Spanish midfielder bent in a fabulous 30-yard free-kick in stoppage time to cancel out Alex Revell’s late equaliser.
And Lambert could not have been more effusive in his praise for Gomez, after his 93rd-minute winner.
“Oh for heaven’s sake, it was world class,” he said.
“Jordi plays the game as if it’s really natural to him, and all top players do that. Even his first goal is a brilliant header, but the second goal is genuinely world class.”
But the game had taken time to get going, with the first effort not arriving until Jason Steele was forced to tip Jake Forster-Caskey’s free-kick onto the bar mid-way through the first half.
Rovers should have taken the lead two minutes after the half-hour, when Bennett pounced on a stray pass from Dons’ stand-in goalkeeper Cody Cropper.
Bennett aimed an inviting cross toward Chris Brown, but the forward mis-timed his leap and headed harmlessly over.
And the hosts were made to rue their wastefulness four minutes later, when Samir Carruthers struck firmly into the bottom corner from 18 yards.
Yet Rovers could have been level within a minute, as Cropper pushed a low drive from Gomez into the path of Brown, only for the striker to blaze the loose ball over the bar.
Lambert’s men made amends seven minutes after the restart, when Gomez headed home an equaliser after seeing his initial header from a corner saved before two follow-up efforts were blocked on the line.
Rovers continued to dominate and went ahead when Bennett drove the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to score his first goal for the club.
But when Norwich loanee Josh Murphy centered for fellow substitute Revell to turn the ball past Steele four minutes from time, it looked as though Karl Robinson’s side had salvaged a point.
That was until Gomez stepped up to show a glimpse of the class with which he illuminated the Premier League with both Wigan and Sunderland.
But Lambert refused to be drawn on Rovers’ chances of securing the matchwinner’s services on a permanent basis in the summer.
“I don’t know the ins and outs. We’re just fortunate and thankful that Sunderland have let him come,” Lambert said.
“We don’t know yet, hopefully we’ll know a little bit more in the next few weeks what’s going to happen.”
Dons boss Robinson, on the other hand, admitted that defeat in stoppage time was a bitter pill to swallow as the impact of his tactical tweaks and substitutions were cancelled out by sloppiness at set plays.
“What’s cost us is basically just schoolboy error defending from set pieces,” he said.
“We took a brave decision to go with five midfield players, and it worked.
“Even the substitutes came on and made a difference for us. It’s gutwrenching as a manager when we’re sat here literally with nothing.
“There are 12 games to go now, and we know we’re in a dogfight, we know we’ve got to win four or five of them, and I think the players are more than capable of doing that.”