Source: Daily_Mail
Blackburn 0 Tottenham 1: Peter Crouch's early strike gets Spurs back to winning ways
It has been a peculiar couple of months at Blackburn Rovers and Wednesday night's defeat by Tottenham stuck fast to the script. Much of what the Lancashire club have done in recent times has left them open to ridicule and criticism. Peter the great: Crouch celebrates after putting Tottenham ahead at Ewood Park 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.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. 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. 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. Magic man: Rafael van der Vaart (left) glides past Jermaine JonesTottenham'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. 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.'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.'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.' 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.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. Painful viewing: Blackburn owner Anuradha Desai watches from the stands at Ewood Park 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.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. Booked: J Jones, Nzonzi. 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. Booked: Corluka.Man of the match: Heurelho Gomes.Referee: Andre Marriner 6.In the first half much of what was good about Blackburn's play came through Dunn, Diouf and the young winger Junior Hoilett. 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. One wondered at half-time if the pattern of the game would continue. Surely Redknapp would manage to stem the tide. 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. 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. 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. 'It was a great result and an exciting game,' was Redknapp's rather under-stated take on the win. 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.' 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 Explore more:People: Jermaine Jenas, Keith Andrews, Peter Crouch, David Dunn, Harry Redknapp, Sam Allardyce, Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe