Kevin Nolan's Match Report: Blackburn Rovers v Charlton (19/01/2013)

Blackburn Rovers 1 (Rhodes 48) Charlton 2 (Stephens 28, Kermorgant 64).

Kevin Nolan reports from Ewood Park.

The contrasting emotions of rival managers Chris Powell and Michael Appleton spoke volumes at a bitterly divided Ewood Park on Saturday.
Already becoming one of the Championship’s longer-serving bosses with two years under his belt, Powell is in charge of a confident outfit capable of mixing it with the division’s brightest and best. Despite strict financial constraints, he has steered his improving side to mid-table security, with the promise of better to come. He has made a virtue of being underestimated. And his grin just gets more knowing.

A more naturally glum character, Appleton has flitted from job to job recently before surprisingly finding himself at the helm of a nakedly ambitious club with little to be ambitious about. The poisonous local animosity toward Blackburn’s chicken-rearing board (Dopiaza’s a personal favourite) may or may not be entirely justified but their Victorian mill owners’ attitude to this most working class of towns does them no favours. As Rovers struggled, the atmosphere became uglier and the Desai family’s disastrous decision, with their underlings trailing 2-1, to retreat to the Rolls Royce which had delivered them five minutes before kick-off, was the last straw. They were sent on their way by a chorus of derision, leaving their patently decent foreman Appleton to pick up the pieces.

None of which unduly troubled their visitors, who recognised that they were playing Rovers at precisely the right time and made the most of it. A solid, disciplined performance, to which every player made a sturdy contribution, underpinned victory.  Their patented 4-5-1 formation, in which indefatigable midfield wide men Lawrie Wilson and Scott Wagstaff excelled, ensured a domination that was only briefly threatened by a cleverly filched equaliser from Jordan Rhodes three minutes into the second half. The home side- and their fickle fans- sensed the possibility of recovery and were promptly slapped down again for their temerity. The Addicks won this game going away.

Three minutes after Anglo-Turkish striker Colin Karim-Richards squandered the game’s first chance by heading Ruben Rochina’s inswinging corner tamely into Ben Hamer’s hands, Charlton playmaker Dale Stephens demonstrated that while the accuracy of his shooting can’t always be guaranteed, if he strikes them right, they stay struck. Catching up with play as Chris Solly’s darting run and low cross was scuffed out to him by Karim-Richards, Stephens expertly tamed the chest-high ball, then drove it sumptuously it into the top right corner from 25 yards. Some 411 fans behind the far goal celebrated wildly. The remaining 13,326 mutineers on hand began rhubarbing their dissatisfaction.

A defiant save by Jake Kean from Johnnie Jackson and Yann Kermorgant’s inability to master the rebound maintained Rovers’ interest before the interval, shortly after which the previously subdued Rhodes showed that his quality has not been dimmed by local discontent. Instinctively reading the trajectory of Karim-Richards’ dipping cross from the right, Rovers’ goal machine stole a yard on an otherwise vigilant Matt Taylor at the near post and glanced a diving header across a slipping Hamer into the far bottom corner.

The visitors were rattled by the setback and Stephens did nothing to restore confidence by wasting a far easier chance than the one he’d converted in such style. Unchallenged near the penalty spot, he fired hopelessly wide after a fortuitous ricochet reached him. His miss might have proved expensive had Hamer not reacted with typical alertness to Karim-Richards wickedly swerving drive but order was duly restored by Yann Kermorgant’s 5th goal of the season -or 6th if the club supports his reasonable claim to the third goal at Watford on Boxing Day.

The move began unpromisingly with Johnnie Jackson stumbling in his efforts to find Bradley Pritchard on the right flank but recovering well enough to complete the pass. A little nugget this season and a tribute to Charlton’s talent spotting astuteness,  Pritchard stepped back on to his left foot for a searching cross aimed for Kermorgant. Outjumping a knot of players, the brawny Breton improvised a deliberately looped header which left Kean rooted as it soared under the bar.

Hastily, the bosses chickened out and flew the coop. Could get nasty if they do the same when Blackburn play Leicester City’s Foxes. Or even nastier should they run into the Tractor Boys at Ipswich. Er, sorry about that, there’s an end to the poultry jokes. Stand on me.

Kevin Nolan’s Match Report is brought to you in association with , 294 Burnt Ash Hill, London, SE12 0QD.

Blackburn: Kean, Kane, Hanley, Dann, Martin Olsson, Murphy, Lowe, Karim-Richards, Vukcevic (Pedersen 70), Rochina (Nuno Gomes 78), Rhodes. Not used: Usai, Givet, Morris, Goodwillie, Rosado.

Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Taylor, Morrison, Evina, Wilson (Harriott 90), Pritchard, Stephens, Jackson, Wagstaff (Dervite 78), Kermorgant. Not used: Button, Green, Wright-Phillips, Wiggins, Fuller.

Referee: David Coote. Att: 13,467.