Blackburn 1 – 0 Sheff Utd

Blackburn re-established themselves as automatic promotion contenders with a deserved 1-0 win over Sheffield United at Ewood Park.

The only goal of the game came inside five minutes, when Harry Pickering finished off a devastating counter-attack from the hosts, who were later twice denied by the woodwork.

As the second half wore on, the visitors’ frustration grew and Blades defender Chris Basham was fortunate to remain on the pitch after avoiding a second booking despite a studs-up tackle on Pickering.

But Rovers took all three points after their fourth straight league win and moved up to third, six points behind second-placed Sheffield United with 11 games to play.

How Blackburn reignited their top two hopes

Speaking in the lead-up to kick off, Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom had warned he was “expecting problems” from Rovers at Ewood Park, given their run of four straight wins in all competitions, but that he was expecting his side to solve them.

He was proved right within five minutes of the first whistle. Sammie Szmodics led an energetic counter and picked out Tyrhys Dolan, who held the ball up and waited for the overlapping run of Pickering, who arrived on the scene to strike across Wes Foderingham and into the far corner.

The Blades responded well to going behind and certainly had the more fluency to their game, yet they struggled to force meaningful openings; Aynsley Pears saved an unorthodox clearance from Dominic Hyam at his near post, while Basham weaved his way past two men impressively, before disappointing with the subsequent shot.

It was Blackburn who nearly claimed the second goal of the game, though, when Sorba Thomas chased a lost cause down the right and pulled it back for Dolan to smash an unstoppable drive off the right-hand upright.

The woodwork denied them again just after the hour, too, when Szmodics audaciously dinked a shot goalwards from 20 yards, which beat Foderingham before cannoning off the crossbar.

Tensions threatened to boil over in the final 25 minutes of the match, with four yellow cards doled out. But there perhaps should have been a second shown to Basham, who escaped with a yellow for a crunching tackle on Dolan and then avoided a second altogether despite an ugly challenge on Pickering.

Ultimately, the fact it was 11 vs 11 for the final chapter mattered little, in truth. Sheffield United rarely troubled their hosts in the final third and so, despite a late onslaught in the very last seconds, they could not find a way to avoid a third defeat in four league games.

Player of the match – Lewis Travis

What’s next?

Sheffield United are back in action on Tuesday, March 7 at 7.45pm, when they travel to the Select Car Leasing Stadium to take on Reading.

Blackburn, meanwhile, travel to the bet365 Stadium to take on Stoke at 8pm on Friday March 10, live on Sky Sports Football.

Friday 10th March 7:30pm


Kick off 8:00pm