Blackburn 3-1 Fulham: Sunday Mirror match report
Published 20:00 14/01/12 By Lindsay Sutton
Strife-torn Blackburn scrabbled their way out of the bottom three for the first time in four months – and they did it with 10 men.
It looked like curtains for Rovers when leading striker Yakubu was red-carded for a studs-up challenge on Danny Murphy after just 23 minutes.
And with man-mountain defender Chris Samba absent from the starting line-up through sickness, the task looked like Mission Impossible.
But, against all the odds, Steve Kean’s side grabbed an unlikely victory.
And to do it without want-away Samba and 13-goal Yakubu made it even more impressive.
A delighted Kean said: “Psychologically, to get a deserved victory with only 10 men is excellent.
“I was surprised that Yakubu was shown red rather than yellow. You do fear for your team when you lose such a player. But we decided to be bold and it all paid off.”
Morten Gamst Pedersen broke the hoodoo with Blackburn’s first strike to put the strugglers on course for only their second home league win in the last eight matches.
David Dunn hit home his first strike of the season 53 seconds into the second half, and a beautifully-worked move by Steven Nzonzi and substitute Mauro Formica finished it off, even though Fulham had pulled one back through Damien Duff.
Yet the omens were against a home win.
Against a backcloth of reports that Samba wants out, the Congolese defender phoned in sick on Friday.
And when the Yak went in on Murphy studs-first with a knee-high challenge Anthony Taylor had little choice but to show a red card.
But all credit to Kean’s outfit. In added-on time in the first half Pedersen made his presence felt from one of his trademark set-pieces.
Fulham’s Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz was judged to have brought down Dunn and Pedersen arrowed his low free-kick past the side of Fulham’s defensive wall and keeper David Stockdale.
Stockdale was at the right side of goal but missed seeing the flight of the ball.
Dunn then gave Stockdale no chance with his 15-yard blast 53 seconds into the second half. David Goodwillie had his shot blocked, but Dunn fired in the rebound.
Fulham hit back when Duff shot through Martin Olsson’s legs to find a way past Paul Robinson.
But then Formica played a brilliant one-two with Nzonzi to hammer home the third goal.
Fulham manager Martin Jol admitted Rovers were the better side. “They had a lot of pace and we couldn’t stop them,” he said. “This could give them a new lease of life.”
