ROVERS RETURN NOT THE BEST FOR DOWN-ON-HIS-LUCK LEON
IT’S six of the best for promotion-chasing Blackburn as they deservedly saw off spirited Charlton at Ewood Park.
An own goal from former Rover Leon Best and Danny Graham’s predatory late strike handed Rovers the points as they pocketed a sixth straight victory.
Momentum is clearly helping Blackburn bounce along nicely into the hectic festive period, and they remain handily situated, just one point behind second-placed Shrewsbury in the battle to get back into the Championship.
Boss Tony Mowbray saluted his side, who stood together as one to repel a Charlton outfit who remain right up there in the play-off shakeup, sixth in the standings.
The former West Brom and Middlesbrough boss said: “We knew we’d be in for a tough game against a really good side.
“Having said that, though, I also knew we’d have chances to score because they are a team who come to play.
“We showed terrific resilience, and you need that in this division.
“There was bundles of spirit, character and resilience out there, particularly in the second half when Charlton came at us.
“We’re not going to win 4-2 every week and be dominant in every game, but we got the job done in the end.
“Now we move on to Northampton next weekend and hopefully we can keep this little run going.
“It does feel great to secure a win like this, especially when you’ve not necessarily been at your best.”
It proved an entrance to forget for Addicks’ experienced striker Best as his own goal separated the two sides at the interval.
Best, a £3m signing for Rovers from Newcastle back in 2012, came on as a substitute in the 27th minute for the injured Billy Clarke. However, just three minutes later his unfortunate header following Charlie Mulgrew’s whipped-in free-kick flew past a stunned Ben Amos.
Earlier, Clarke had looked dangerous, arrowing a shot narrowly over the crossbar.
At the other end, Bradley Dack went close, while Amos saved superbly from Mulgrew.
Shortly before the interval the Addicks ought to have levelled when Ben Reeves side-footed straight at grateful goalkeeper David Raya.
The visitors opened the second period encouragingly and both Chris Solly and Best were denied by a superb double stop from Raya.
Reeves also went close for Karl Robinson’s men, but they just couldn’t find a breakthrough.
Jake Forster-Caskey was also thwarted by Raya, who had been busy in the third quarter of the game, but the Addicks rather ran out of steam in the closing stages and conceded a second goal deep into added time. Joe Nuttall guided over a superb cross into the path of fellow substitute Graham, who clinically headed home his sixth goal of the season.
The Addicks just about maintained their place in the play-off positions, but a run of only one point secured from the last four games is clearly concerning boss Robinson.
He said: “Of course there’s been a bit of dip just lately, but we’ve not been helped by injuries and we’ve picked up another one here for Billy Clarke.
“We can’t use that as an excuse, though. Blackburn are flying at the moment and we came here knowing exactly what to expect. We were unfortunate to lose the own goal in the first half, but after that I can’t fault the players and their attitudes.
“We’ve given it everything and in the end we’ve come up short.
“It’s a concern that the results are not going our way at present, but there’s lots of time to turn things back around.
“We’re still right up there and there’s still plenty of points left to play for.”
BLACKBURN: (4-2-3-1): Raya 8, Nyambe 7, Downing 6, Mulgrew 8, Williams 7, Smallwood 5, Evans 5 (Tomlinson 69 5), Conway 8, Dack 8, Antonsson 6 (Nuttall 59 7), Samuel 6 (Graham 59 7)
Subs not used: Leutwiler, Ward, Caddis, Harper CHARLTON: (4-2-3-1): Amos 7, Solly 8, Konsa 7, Pearce 6, Dasilva 7, Forster-Caskey 8, Aribo 7, Marshall 7 (Ahearne-Grant 78 5), Clarke 5 (Best 27 5), Reeves 8, Magennis 7
Subs not used: Phillips, Sarr, Lennon, Jackson, Dodoo