Considering the casualties that resulted from the last two battles of Ewood, Rafa Benitez should probably have been as relieved his players escaped with their limbs intact as he was with the three points. Despite Lucas Neill’s best efforts, the Blackburn injury curse didn’t stretch into a third season and had Djibril Cisse converted the simplest of injury-time chances it would have provided the perfect return to the scene of his darkest hour.
For all his lack of skill, composure and intelligence, there’s still something endearing about our number nine and it would have been a nice touch had he got the goal his lively performance deserved.
To read the full report, click
here
