Blackburn Res 1 Liverpool Res 2 (Apr 10 2006)

[TLW]

Blackburn Res 1 LIVERPOOL RES 2

Report by Dave Usher at Ewood Park

Scorer(s) - Ramon Calliste (2) Half Time - 0-2 Venue - Ewood Park Date - Mon 10 Apr 2006 Star Man - Danny O'Donnell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ramon Calliste’s two excellent first half goals ensured Liverpool reserves came away from Ewood Park with an impressive 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers last night. On loan reds’ striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle pulled a goal back for the home side in the last minute, but the reds held on to deservedly claim the points.

Paco Herrera’s side produced some of their best football of the season in a first half in which they repeatedly tore the home defence to pieces. Rovers never got to grips with the skill and movement of Guthrie and Hammill, and struggled desperately against the pace of Calliste and Anderson in the opening 45 minutes. They tightened up after the break, but by then the damage had been done.

The reds had made a few changes from the side which lost at Sunderland last week. Jerzy Dudek made a rare appearance in goal (possibly due to needing match practice ahead of the World Cup), Calliste replaced Robbie Foy in attack, whilst Godwin Antwi returned to the side in place of the suspended Lee Peltier.

Liverpool had to withstand an early onslaught from a strong Rovers side that included Lorenzo Amoruso, Shefki Kuqi and Sergio Peter as well as Flo. Dudek had to make a smart save from an Amoruso free kick after only three minutes, whilst the bustling Kuqi (bustling being a polite way of saying big fucking useless yard dog) gave the reds’ defence some problems in the opening quarter of an hour.

He had two decent chances in the space of a minute. First he shot wide after eluding O’Donnell, and then he saw glancing header sail harmlessly wide from a terrific cross by right back Lee Kane. After that he got no change out of Antwi and O’Donnell, who were both excellent.

Liverpool began to settle after those early scares, and Guthrie became more and more prominent. When he plays well, so does the whole side. The key to Liverpool’s performances at this level is how much they can get Danny on the ball. The way the side is set up, there’s a lot of creative responsibility on his shoulders. The problem is that sometimes he can’t get on the ball (the 2nd half at Sunderland last week being a good example, as well as the 2nd half of this game), and the chances dry up.

Against Rovers Guthrie exploited the space between their defence and midfield very well, and Calliste was the main beneficiary. The Welsh striker thought he’d put his side in front after 12 minutes when he controlled a misplaced shot by Anderson and stroked the ball into the corner of the net only to be denied by a linesman’s flag.

Byrom then headed wide for the home side from another good cross by Kane, but the rest of the half belonged to Liverpool. The reds took the lead in the 27th minute when Antwi hit a long hopeful ball towards Calliste which should have been dealt with by Rovers centre back Eddie Nolan. Instead of clearing his lines, he tried to cushion a volley back to his keeper but didn’t get enough on it and Calliste nipped in to take the ball around the him and roll the ball into the net.

Five minutes later he had his second, running onto a fine through ball by the outstanding Guthrie, and finishing very well once more into the bottom corner.

Rovers defensive line was all at sea. They’d appealed for offside against Calliste, but as seemed to happen every time we attacked, a couple of the back four had dropped deep whilst others had tried to hold the line. They really were a shambles, and you have to lay the blame for that at the door of the experienced Amoruso who should have been organising his young colleagues.

Liverpool were excellent in the first half, and they carved the home defence apart on numerous occasions. Anderson saw a lot of the ball and linked up well with the impressive Barragan down the right. As happened last week, Hammill was also giving Anderson great service with some superb crossfield balls from left to right.

The duo combined well in first half stoppage time, when the reds launched a counter attack following a Rovers corner. Hammill collected the ball outside the area, and having spotted Anderson charging into space ahead of him down the right, lofted a perfect ball into his path. Anderson drove forward towards the byline, and then cut insiode the fullback into the area. Hammill had made a superb run to support him and was screaming for cut back which would have given him an easy chance, but Anderson went alone and his shot from a tight angle was saved by the keeper. Adam wasn’t pleased, and having ran eighty yards at full speed only to be ignored I don’t blame him.

Rovers rallied after the break and Pongolle became involved more, but the Liverpool defence stood firm. Jack Hobbs and Miki Roque gave the defence great protection, and Hobbs once more showed signs that he’s really growing into this midfield role he’s being asked to play. He even got forward to get a header in on goal from a terrific cross by Hammill. The keeper made an easy save, but it was encouraging seeing Jack make that kind of run.

As Guthrie’s influence began to fade, Rovers began to excert some pressure. Pongolle moved to an inside left position and was trying to expose Antwi, but for the most part he got little joy out of his former reserve team colleague. There was one fantastic piece of skill from Flo which totally bamboozled Godwin, but Barragan got back to snuff out the danger. This was perhaps the best defensive performance I’ve seen from Antonio this season, and one sliding challenge he made on Flo was worthy of Lawrenson in his prime.

Midway through the second half, Pongolle had a great chance to score when Woods did well down the left and cut the ball back to him six yards out, but he put his shot wide and then lost his rag and kicked the shit out of an advertising hoarding behind the goal!

Herrera made some changes, first introducing Foy for Guthrie with eight minutes left. A minute after that, Ryan Flynn came on for Roque, and then with four minutes left Calliste made way for the fit again Besian Idrizaj.

With time ticking away, Rovers continued to press and with seconds left of normal time Flo finished neatly from close range to set up an uncomfortable finale for the reds. The fourth official signalled three minutes stoppage time, but they were negotiated with no problems.

The biggest concern was the sight of Hammill hobbling from the field at the end with his boot and sock off. He looked in a lot of discomfort, and with the FA Youth Cup just days away it must have been very worrying for the watching Steve Heighway. Thankfully it seems it was just a dead leg and he'll be fine.

It was a good win, and a good performance. Everyone played well and singling anyone out is hard. Calliste took his goals very well, and James Smith was once more very steady at left back. I always seem to use the word solid to describe Jay, but that’s because that’s what he is. Every game, without fail, he’s rock solid and no-one gets the better of him.

Barragan did really well too, whilst Hammill had another good game on the left wing. Picking the star man is hard, but I’m going for Danny O’Donnell because I never seem to single him out even though he is playing very well every week. It could have been any of the outfielders really, but Danny deserves it for the way he coped with the experienced duo of Pongolle and Kuqi.


Team: Dudek; Barragan, Antwi, O’Donnell, Smith; Anderson, Hobbs, Roque (Flynn), Hammill; Guthrie (Foy), Calliste (Idrizaj):