Source: Telegraph
Blackburn Rovers 2 Aston Villa 1: match report
It would have taken a brave man to bet against Aston Villa securing their seventh win on the bounce yesterday against a Blackburn Rovers side thrashed by Everton last weekend, and an even braver one once Gabby Agbonlahor had scored for Aston Villa after just three minutes.
Yet despite playing with 10 men for over 20 minutes, Sam Allardyce’s side fought back with goals from Christopher Samba and David Dunn, although Blackburn fans had Richard Dunne to thank as much as their own midfielder.
Sport on television Martin O’Neill’s defence had been in good shape, with four successive clean sheets, but that all ended here and it was Dunne, so sturdy for Villa until now, who dropped the clangers. The defender became known for them at Manchester City, and here were two classics. He supplied Samba with a gift for Blackburn’s first, and then wafted an arm about inside the area in the 88th minute, just asking for a penalty, which was duly awarded and converted by Dunn.
What a waste it was, after Agbonlahor had got Villa off to such a dream start. True, the striker mishit his shot having followed a John Carew flick-on, but the forces of physics were on the 22 year-old’s side and as Paul Robinson dived, the ball bumbled, misbehaved and spun in off the post for Agbonlahor’s fifth goal in five games.
Despite having the lead, Villa never settled. Ryan Nelsen dispatched a ball into the Villa area and Dunne left it in favour of a test of strength with Samba; he might as well have been trying to uproot an Baobab tree with his bare hands for all the impact his jostling had on 6ft 4in of Congolese muscle. Even worse, he not only let the ball bounce in the danger area, but also nodded it into Samba’s path.
But for Brad Friedel, Blackburn would have claimed the lead with Dunn’s overhead kick from five yards. Friedel, however, shot out an arm like a lizard’s tongue and swished the ball over the bar in an exceptional save. Increasingly the game became a battle of attrition. Vince Grella clattered James Milner and received his marching orders. Then Dunne left a hand above his head in the area and touched the ball. Dunn, denied by Friedel once, would not be foiled again.
