Blackburn Rovers Football Club News

• Nickname:Rovers
• Founded:1875
• Manager:Steve Kean

• Ground:Ewood Park
• Capacity:31,367

Stalemate leaves Sam satisfied

06 Dec 2009 - 10:24:35

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Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce was pleased to see the momentum his team had gained from their midweek Carling Cup victory against Chelsea continue into the goalless draw with Liverpool.

It was far from a classic Ewood Park encounter but Allardyce could not hide his delight at taking a point from a game against another of the 'top-four' teams.

Allardyce, who took charge of the Rovers team for the first time since undergoing minor heart surgery last month, said: "I felt okay until the last few minutes, they were a heart-stopper.

"But in those minutes we could have won it. Nikola Kalinic was through, and should have at least got his effort on target. He was flattened by (Jose) Reina just outside the box, but he still should have rolled the shot on target.

"I was delighted with the way the team played. It has been a good week for us, beating Chelsea in the Carling Cup as well.

"Considering our lads had played two hours and then penalties in that match, and Liverpool didn't have a midweek game, I felt it was a great testimony to our fitness.

"We could easily have lost it in the second half, and I felt we deserved the bit of luck when (David) N'Gog hit the bar.

"But there was also another chance we should have put away when Franco (di Santo) was clear in the box. That is the difference between the big boys at the top and teams like us, they take those chances.

"But considering Liverpool are a great club, we restricted them to just that chance against the bar. As the game went on we put Keith Andrews on to man-mark Steven Gerrard, he was the best player out there.

"And that meant he could not get the space to produce a bit of magic to win it for them."