ROVERS HANGING ON BY A THREAD
Wolves hold out to claim reward
BLACKBURN boss Tony Mowbray admitted Rovers need not just one favour from Aston Villa but two after missing the chance to climb out of the drop zone by drawing at woeful Wolves.
Rovers host hot-and-cold Villa next Saturday desperate for a win but Steve Bruce’s men could do them a huge service today by beating Blackburn’s drop rivals Birmingham in the Second City derby.
With Nottingham Forest and QPR also in the mix, Mowbray insists Rovers are far from down, two points from safety with two games left, but felt this stalemate was a huge missed opportunity.
Wolves, already safe, looked like they were there for the taking and a frustrated Mowbray admitted: “That was pretty disappointing in a game that we felt we should have taken three points from.
“We came to win and for long spells we looked the dominant outfit out there, but you win football matches in the final third, in and around the box – and we fell short in that department.
“We just need more end product, we need more shots, more people breaking into the box, more recognition when we get behind teams and get into dangerous areas.”
Admitting he needs a Villa win then a defeat in their next two games, Mowbray smiled: “It’s been pretty much like that for Villa hasn’t it? They win some, they lose some.
“It’s not as if they have been massively consistent. We have to make sure they have a difficult day at Ewood Park next weekend. One win might be enough for us, even two draws. Birmingham go to Villa then play Huddersfield who need a win.
“They could lose their last three games so we could draw two and still stay up, who knows?
“It’s out of our hands but what we have to do is control what we can control and try to take six points out of the last two games.”
Rovers’ best chances came in the opening 15 minutes as, first, Craig Conway flashed wide under pressure from 12 yards. And then, from Conway’s 15thminute free-kick on the flank, Darragh Lenihan’s glancing header flew a whisker wide of the near post.
In a dour encounter, it took 63 minutes for either goalkeeper to be tested as Elliot Bennett tried to catch Andy Lonergan out with a near-post free-kick but the Wolves stopper was alert to paw it away.
Wolves finally threatened in the final ten minutes as Rovers pushed more men forward but Jon Dadi Bodvarsson was foiled by Elliott Ward’s last-ditch goal-saving tackle and Ivan Cavaleiro shot straight at Blackburn goalkeeper David Raya.
Wolves boss Paul Lambert admitted: “It was a poor game. We fell below the standards that we have set.
“It is another clean sheet but we never did enough to win it. I thought we fell short of the energy levels that we have shown. Maybe the team needs a little bit of freshening up and I will do that against Huddersfield on Tuesday.
“The lads have played a lot of games and we need that bit of freshness for the last few games. Some of them are running on empty.
“I understand that but the pleasing thing is that we never lost the game. So credit to them for that.”