Graham gets one Rover his old club
DANNY GRAHAM returned to inflict further misery on Derby who lost at the iPro Stadium for the fourth game in a row.
The Rams got their first Championship goal at home this season to go in front through Matej Vydra but Marvin Emnes equalised with a deflected shot.
Graham, who failed to score during a loan spell with County 11 years ago, then grabbed the winner with 17 minutes remaining.
Derby, who were one of the favourites for promotion, are now in the bottom three while Blackburn’s second straight league win moves them out of the drop zone.
Blackburn should have taken the lead in the 40th minute when Emnes was tripped by Richard Keogh but Ben Marshall fired the penalty against a post.
The breakthrough came in the 69th minute when Ikechi Anya played a clever pass to his former Watford team-mate Vydra who shot low past Jason Steele from 12 yards.
But Blackburn replied immediately through Emnes who was allowed to run at the defence before unleashing a shot that deflected off Keogh beyond Scott Carson.
And just three minutes later a quick exchange of passes around the edge of the penalty area ended with Emnes playing in Graham who calmly sidefooted past the former England keeper.
Blackburn boss Owen Coyle said: “We have to continue the momentum we are building. We have a very tight-knit group that is prepared to run until they drop for each other.
“Within that I’m trying to bring some football quality and I thought we did that. We want to get a platform to kick on from and days like today help you achieve that.”
Derby boss Nigel Pearson said: “That performance doesn’t buy us any time for people to keep in a positive frame of mind with us.
“There was a level of anxiety in the stadium which is something we’ve magnified ourselves through not performing how we should.”
And West Brom boss Tony Pulis was still holding on to his proud record of never having lost at his old club Stoke since they sacked him.
Whenever he loses a game, Pulis goes into a darkened room and won’t speak to anyone and Debbie must have been planning what she was going to serve him as the Baggies went into stoppage time a goal down.
But Salomon Rondon headed a last-gasp equaliser that lifted the mood at the Pulis’ Bournemouth home.
Joe Allen had done his best to ruin Pulis’ day – his 1,000th match as a manager – but Mark Hughes’ Potters have a soft centre these days and let Rondon get the jump on their defence.
Sub Jonathan Leko floated in the perfect corner and Rondon got in front of Ryan Shawcross to leave Hughes waiting for his first Premier League win of the season.
He had already been thankful for keeper Lee Grant, on his Premier League debut, when James McClean got his head on the end of a cross but it looked as if Allen’s strike would be enough to raise Stoke’s spirits.
The workaholic midfielder got the goal he deserved – poking home from close range after Jonny Evans could only head Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross down onto the Welshman’s toe in the 73rd minute.
But a nightmare start for Hughes is threatening to turn into a full-blown crisis as his side have picked up just two points out of 18 so far.
The only consolation for Sparky, who still has the support of chairman Peter Coates, is that the betting firm millionaire does not make knee-jerk reactions.
Pulis also owed a debt to defender Craig Dawson who came to the rescue when it looked as though former Liverpool and England full-back Glen Johnson had finally broken his scoring duck.
Johnson, who has been in the Potteries for 15 months since his free transfer, is still waiting for his first successful strike but could not have come any closer.
He started a move and then ran on to a cushioned header from Wilfried Bony and cleverly lifted the ball over the onrushing Ben Foster with his right foot. The ball was dropping inside the far post but somehow the covering Dawson got his head to it.
Pulis, who had two spells at Stoke, said: “I couldn’t have picked a better place for my 1,000th game.
“The place is wonderful, the crowd were fantastic to me as the manager here. I’ll always respect them.
“We showed great commitment and effort to get back into it and I’d have been really disappointed if we’d got nothing out of it. It was a fantastic set-play and luckily for us Salomon got a wonderful header.”
Hughes said: “At the moment it is a little bit raw because we clearly deserved the three points.
“We had a little bit of confusion in the box and it’s come off at an acute angle and into the far corner. We are off the bottom, though, so that’s a positive.
“Joe Allen left Liverpool because he wanted to play week in, week out and he’s been a shining light. He’s been excellent since he walked through the door.”