Samba sees red in Sunderland stalemate

18 October 2010 23:00
Blackburn had their captain Christopher Samba sent off in a disappointing goalless draw with Sunderland at Ewood Park. Samba saw red in first-half stoppage-time after bringing down Danny Welbeck just before the Black Cats forward could burst into the box. After a scrappy opening, Ahmed Elmohamady guided a header into Lee Cattermole's path, who cut into the box and went down claiming Gael Givet had fouled him. Referee Lee Probert waved play on. Darren Bent, who started the game having shaken off the injury which forced him out of England's match against Montenegro, then wasted a glorious chance to open the scoring. The Black Cats' top scorer latched onto a long ball after a mistake by Givet but he shot weakly at Paul Robinson in a one-on-one situation. Then in first-half stoppage time Samba brought down Welbeck just outside the box. The Rovers skipper was given his marching orders, with Phillip Bardsley striking the resulting free-kick against the wall and Bent firing the rebound wide. In the second half Benjani had to come off with a knock and Mame Biram Diouf was sent on, while Boudewijn Zenden got a header on target which Robinson saved. The newly-introduced Diouf tried a snapshot that did little to trouble Mignolet and Asamoah Gyan went closer with a curling shot that slipped narrowly wide but a 0-0 draw seemed the only fair result by the final whistle.

Source: PA