My star strikers could leave, admits Bowyer
BLACKBURN did their bit on a weekend of Cup upsets to book a place in the fifth round, but it remains to be seen if strikers Rudy Gestede and Jordan Rhodes will still be at the club when that game comes around next month. Manager Gary Bowyer brought his two stars off the bench at Ewood Park, and it was Gestede who made the breakthrough as nine-man Swansea crashed out. The Benin striker is set to join Crystal Palace before the transfer window closes if the two clubs can agree a fee of up to £5million, while £12m-rated Rhodes continues to interest top-flight teams. With Blackburn £79.8m in debt and operating under a transfer embargo, the dilemma is clear: by selling their prize assets to reduce that figure Indian owners Venky’s could also be killing off the club’s fading hopes of promotion back to the Premier League. It’s enough to drive some managers to distraction but Bowyer will accept if Gestede and Rhodes are sold. ‘It would be a huge blow, of course it would,’ he said. ‘Personally, we have to try and keep all our players in this window. But if they were to go I’m sensible enough. I’ve been brought up the right way to not throw my toys out of the pram and get on with it. ‘That is all I can do. If they were to get sold I would go out and find the next one. ‘Gareth Bale went to Real Madrid, Ronaldo goes to Real Madrid. Eventually it seems to happen to every player these days. All you do is dust yourself down, wish them all the best and crack on. ‘I would obviously put my opinion forward but at the end of the day the owners of the club are there to make the financial decisions.’ Blackburn’s passage to the next round was smoothed by the sixth-minute dismissal of Swansea defender Kyle Bartley. Gylfi Sigurdsson was then shown a straight red for a crude challenge in added time and will now miss Premier League fixtures against Southampton, Sunderland and West Brom.
SUPER STAT: Blackburn have only lost two of their last 20 home ties in the FA Cup.
BLACKBURN ROVERS (4-4-1-1): Eastwood 6; Henley 6, Duffy 7, Kilgallon 6.5, Olsson 7; Cairney 6.5, Lowe 6, Williamson 5 (Dunn 41, 6; Rhodes 77, 6), Conway 8; Taylor 7; King 7 (Gestede 60, 7). Subs not used: Steele, Hanley, Brown, Rhodes, Marshall. Booked: Williamson. Scorers: Taylor 23, Gestede 78, Conway 89.
SWANSEA CITY (4-2-1-3): Fabianski 5; Rangel 5.5, Bartley 4.5, Amat 5, Tiendalli 6; Carroll 6 (Fernandez 9, 5.5), Shelvey 5; Sigurdsson 6.5; Dyer 6, Gomis 4.5 (Oliviera 77, 6), Barrow 5 (Montero 62, 6). Subs not used: Tremmel, Emnes, Naughton, Fulton. Booked: Dyer. Sent off: Bartley, Sigurdsson. Scorer: Sigurdsson 21. Man of the match: Craig Conway. Referee: Craig Pawson 5.