Source: Daily_Mail
Blackburn 1 West Ham 1: Junior Stanislas provides a cool head to seal a point for Avram Grant
For Steve Kean at Blackburn, a new beginning as the most visible employee in a business empire built on chicken. [LNB]As for Avram Grant at West Ham, he is not quite stuffed, yet, but there are probably turkeys feeling more relaxed about the coming week than he is. [LNB]West Ham's owners were considering ending Grant's reign if his team had lost heavily in Lancashire. They are still considering it, but a point brought their manager a stay of execution. [LNB]Cool finish: Junior Stanislas latches on to Scott Parker's through ball to put the Hammers level[LNB]Next up for the Hammers is a tricky Boxing Day capital derby away at Fulham, followed two days later by a home game against Everton. Failure to win either of those will mean Grant gets the sack just as Santa is putting his away. [LNB]On a day of sub-zero temperatures and as many pre-match heroics at Ewood Park to clear the pitch as heroics during the game itself, Ryan Nelsen's scruffy effort off his thigh put Rovers ahead shortly after the break, before Junior Stanislas scored the equaliser with 12 minutes remaining. [LNB]West Ham remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, with 13 points from 18 games. They are guaranteed to be bottom on Christmas Day and as any part-time statistician worth his anorak knows, being bottom at Christmas is tantamount to being relegated. In the 18 completed seasons of the revamped top division, West Bromwich Albion in 2004- 05 have been the sole exception to the rule.[LNB]'We do not want to leave this team by themselves [in having achieved survival after being bottom],' Grant joked with grim humour after the match. 'I believe there will be one more team to join them [in escaping].'[LNB]Bundle: Ryan Nelsen latches on to a loose ball in the West Ham area to give Blackburn the lead[LNB] West Ham were looking to end a barren away spell that stretches to a winless run of 16 months - since the opening day of last season. The hosts were seeking a fourth successive home win and started the brighter, winning two early free kicks for Morten Gamst Pedersen. The first was deflected wide, the second drilled low outside the post. [LNB]A third, in the 33rd minute, elicited a diving aerial stop from West Ham's third-choice goalkeeper, Ruud Boffin, a 23-year-old Belgian whose leap was more spectacular than it needed to be. Boffin was one of two late changes Grant made, coming in for the injured Rob Green. [LNB]The other change, minutes before kick-off, was Jonathan Spector replacing Valon Behrami, who was injured in the warm-up. To be fair to Behrami, it took some strenuous activity to get warm on day when the mercury plummeted towards minus nine by nightfall. [LNB]Spector's best moment was setting up Pablo Barrera, whose shot was blocked by Paul Robinson, but aside from Nelsen's 51st-minute goal - knocked in after Boffin had saved a first attempt - Blackburn had no other chances of note apart from a late 'goal' chalked off for an infringement by Nelsen. [LNB]Stay of execution: Avram Grant (left) failed to seal victory while Blackburn's temproary boss Steve Kean (right) sealed a point in his first game at the helm at Ewood Park[LNB]Kean said he was 'disappointed' that Blackburn had not won. 'Having been ahead and had other chances, we feel it was a case of points dropped,' said the 43-year-old caretaker manager, whose appointment means there are five Scottish bosses in the division. Only England has as many . [LNB]'I can't say I enjoyed the day because we didn't win, but I have enjoyed the last few days, working with the boys, picking the team, making the substitutions,' he added. He said his tenure will be for 'no set time'. When he spoke to the club's chairwoman, Anuradha Desai, by phone, she urged him only to do his best. [LNB]Desai and her two brothers, Venkateshand Belaji Rao, own Blackburn via Venky's, an Indian conglomerate. The prevailing football wisdom is that they have no football wisdom; that their game is poultry and their football knowledge is paltry. [LNB]But Kean, multi-lingual after workingin Portugal and Spain among other places, has been a coach at Reading, Fulham, Real Sociedad and Coventry, and was wanted by Luiz Felipe Scolari during his time as Chelsea manager. [LNB]Gone but not forgotten: A young Blackburn fan expresses sadness at the sacking of Sam Allardyce[LNB]Quite how the complicated relationship pans out between the Raos, Kean and two agencies involved in an advisory capacity - Kentaro and SEM - remains to be seen, but Kean or whoever replaces him will need back-up players urgently. [LNB]Defender Phil Jones went off with a knee problem that will require surgery and keep him out for months. Striker Jason Roberts could be out for six weeks with a hamstring injury and Chris Samba also took a knock. [LNB]West Ham perked up towards the interval, with Luis Boa Morte releasing Frederic Piquionne, who shot into the side netting, then Luis Boa Morte's shot was saved by Robinson. [LNB]Matthew Upson scuffed a shot on to the post, and Carlton Cole headed over before Stanislas, a 21- year-old who has been a Hammer since he was 10, connected with Scott Parker's deflected pass. [LNB]West Ham's tails were up, but in truth this was not a match to warm the cockles, more a day for trying to keep warm, or in Grant's case, trying to keep his job. [LNB] Blackburn v West Ham: All the action as it happened from Ewood ParkGrant: I've not been handed ultimatum by disappointed West Ham boardDes Kelly: Why should we listen to these chicken nuggets after axe falls on Big Sam?Andy Townsend's boot room: Clash of the day - Blackburn v West HamBLACKBURN ROVERS FC
