Source: Daily_Mail
Blackburn 0 Tottenham 1: Peter Crouch's early strike gets Spurs back to winning ways
[LNB]It has been a peculiar couple of months at Blackburn Rovers and Wednesday night's defeat by Tottenham stuck fast to the script. [LNB]Much of what the Lancashire club have done in recent times has left them open to ridicule and criticism. [LNB] Peter the great: Crouch celebrates after putting Tottenham ahead at Ewood Park [LNB] [LNB] The sacking of Sam Allardyce by newIndian owners Venky's was a particularly foolish and disrespectful act.Their pursuit of star names like Ronaldinho, meanwhile, was the stuffof hilarious fancy. Nevertheless, Blackburn's football under newmanager Steve Kean has endured.[LNB]On Wednesday night - playing infront of Venky' s chairwoman Anuradha Desai for the very first time -they pretty much passed Spurs off the pitch and somehow managed tolose. [LNB]Mrs Desai must not have known whatto make of it. Having sanctioned a new contract for defender ChrisSamba during the day, she then took her seat after a rather moderatelyreceived public address to see him embarrassed by Peter Crouch as theEngland forward headed Tottenham into the lead in the third minute. [LNB]After that, however, all thefootball was played by the hosts. The likes of David Dunn - peculiarlytaken off in the second half - and Mame Biram Diouf were terrific.Unfortunately they could not score. [LNB] Magic man: Rafael van der Vaart (left) glides past Jermaine Jones[LNB][LNB]Tottenham's Brazilian goalkeeperHeurelho Gomes was superb and produced save after save as the game woreon. Afterwards Kean was left to lament a depressing statistic - everytime Blackburn have fallen behind in the Barclays Premier League thisseason they have lost. [LNB]Kean said: 'We have had the game bythe scruff of the neck and in truth we would have been disappointedeven if we had just got a point.[LNB]'The stats tell the story. We had 18shots, 11 on target and had the ball in their box 40 times. Theirgoalkeeper was the man of the match.[LNB]'We weren't just smashing the ballinto the box. I think there was a lot of craft in our play. 'We werecaught cold early on but after that we controlled the game.' [LNB]Kean has been criticised forstepping into Allardyce's shoes while they were still warm. Last night,however, only the churlish would not accept that his team were unlucky.[LNB]The goal Blackburn conceded was apoor one. But after that Crouch header Tottenham - so short of playersthat manager Harry Redknapp had two goalkeepers on the bench - werehardly ever in the game. [LNB] [LNB] Painful viewing: Blackburn owner Anuradha Desai watches from the stands at Ewood Park[LNB] [LNB]Apart from two saves Paul Robinsonmade either side of the hour from Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon, hewas largely under-employed. Gomes, on the other hand, was the game'smost influential figure.[LNB]MATCH FACTSBLACKBURN (4-1-3-2): Robinson 7; Salgado 6, Samba 6, Nelsen 6, Olsson 7; Jones 6 (Nzonzi 64min, 6); Andrews 6, Dunn 7 (Pedersen 67, 6), Hoilett 7; Diouf 7 (Benjani 81), Roberts 6. Subs not used: Bunn, Kalinic, Grella, Hanley. [LNB]Booked: J Jones, Nzonzi. [LNB]TOTTENHAM (4-4-2): Gomes 8; Corluka 6, Gallas 6, Bassong 6, Assou-Ekotto 6; Van der Vaart 6, Jenas 5, Palacios 5, Lennon 7; Defoe 6 (Sandro 76), Crouch 7. Subs not used: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Kranjcar, Khumalo, Woodgate, Pletikosa. [LNB]Booked: Corluka.[LNB]Man of the match: Heurelho Gomes.[LNB]Referee: Andre Marriner 6.[LNB]In the first half much of what was good about Blackburn's play came through Dunn, Diouf and the young winger Junior Hoilett. [LNB]One Hoilett shot was hacked clear byCrouch while a bouncing volley was touched aside by Gomes. Dunn,meanwhile, twice took the paint off Gomes's left-hand post with shotsfrom 18 yards. [LNB]One wondered at half-time if the pattern of the game would continue. Surely Redknapp would manage to stem the tide. [LNB]Sadly for the Spurs boss's nerves,very little changed. Diouf brought a point-blank save from Gomes justafter the interval when he probably should have done better beforeBlackburn launched a late assault.With 18 minutes left Diouf was deniedagain, Gomes dropping to his left to save a half-volley. [LNB]Substitute Morten Gamst Pedersenbrought the best from Gomes again soon after as a freekick from theNorwegian came sizzling through the wall, and still Blackburn weren'tfinished.[LNB] Samba looked certain to score witha header in injury time only for the ball to strike Jermaine Jenas onthe line, and then substitute Keith Andrews sent a volley into Gomes'sarms. [LNB]'It was a great result and an exciting game,' was Redknapp's rather under-stated take on the win. [LNB]As for the absent Steven Pienaar,Redknapp said: 'The other South African (Bongani Khumalo) thought hishead was the ball and knocked him unconscious in training.' [LNB] [LNB] [LNB] Chicken delight: Blackburn owner Desai set for first Ewood Park visitTottenham suffer more injury misery with Modric set to miss AC Milan clashPREMIER LEAGUE: All of Wednesday's action as it happenedAll the latest Blackburn news, features and opinionAll the latest Tottenham news, features and opinion [LNB] Explore more:People: Jermaine Jenas, Keith Andrews, Peter Crouch, David Dunn, Harry Redknapp, Sam Allardyce, Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe
