Blackburn Rovers 0 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Date:	Monday 6th April 2026
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Blackburn: 4.6
WBA: 5.3	(4-4-2) O'Leary 6.0, Imray 6.1, Phillips 6.3, Campbell 6.7, Taylor 4.8, Price 4.3, Molumby 6.3, Diakité 7.2, Styles 6.2, Maja 5.4, Heggebø 4.9 (Dike, 72 4.7) Unused subs: Griffiths, Gilchrist, Jimoh-Aloba, Mustapha, Mowatt, Whitwell, Bostock, Sule Manager: James Morrison (c) 6.3
Referee:	Robert Jones 6.1

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Ratings submitted so far: 9

Brendan Clegg:

A terrible game with very little to report on but given the injuries we have, the other results, the fact it was away and a must-not-lose match - you take the point with the extended unbeaten run and move on.

I thought the dropping of Griffiths for O’Leary was ruthless and brutal but absolutely the right thing to do - a massive game with survival precarious and no room for sentiment or next season. Mozza perhaps feeling deep down, like I do anyway, that with O’Leary in goal we’d probably have got through Wrexham and hung on for the win.

Elsewhere Taylor played left back allowing Price to go right wing and Styles to play left.

It was a competitive game but we started on top and were the better side in the first half.

We weren’t great and in particular Heggebø and Price managed to combine loads of effort, fight and running with a couple of the worst on the ball performances you will ever see. Tiredness, general quality or whatever - they were utterly hopeless.

They both had our best chances - Price kicking the ball against himself from a really good position early on and Heggebø hitting the bar via a good save… albeit like Dike a six yard chance you have to bury at this level.

Elsewhere our set plays were terrible and Mozza switched Price and Styles at some point - an inverted approach which didn’t really work for me, seemed to nullify Imray and gave the labouring Taylor even more of an excuse to go backwards every time he had the ball.

But halftime, on top and attacking our army of fans second half - you felt we might go on and perform better.

The second half began in similar fashion of being an awful spectacle. Blackburn adjusted things slightly and got about us a bit more and as the minutes passed we got deeper and looked to be a bit in trouble. I don’t think it was all Blackburn… we looked leggy but our real problem was how poorly we looked after the ball. Maja had been doing quite well in that respect but he was a little looser… Heggebø and Price found new levels of bad but even Styles, Molumby and Diakite got sloppy.

We had to dig deep for a bit with a couple of big tackles and blocks - Diakite is one that sticks out as a likely goal-saver.

We needed a change but it was clearly the type of ‘don’t lose’ game where Mozza didn’t trust those on the bench to run and fight or for youngsters to handle the pressure.

Dike for Heggebø was the obvious sub and it came a little late… but it did steady us out and for the last 15 we regained control. If this was a go-for-broke one then there would’ve been an argument for more subs however Mozza went low risk. We had a spell of pressure to see it out without really creating a chance.

Overall it wasn’t pretty and we desperately need reliable wingers back but another clean sheet gets us closer to survival when we looked doomed. We’d have taken this position 6 games ago. 2 more wins should be enough and the fixture opportunities are there.

O’Leary - 6 Feel more confident and his kicking is better.
Imray - 6 Another solid showing. I’d deffo sign him if we can.
Phillips - 6 headed everything
Campbell - 6 another gutsy performance
Taylor- 5 Limited us going forward but kept it solid.
Price - 4 Never stopped running but had an absolute honker
Molumby - 6 Another disciplined game
Diakite - 7 Clearly improving as he gets more games. Is getting the pace of it much better now.
Styles - 6 Put a shift in for us.
Heggebø - 4 Battled away but deary me. One to forget… decision making gets worse
Maja - 6 Also looking better touch-wise with games but the legs are finished.

Dike - 6 Useful battering ram.

I’ve managed to pick up a couple of injuries but still determined to run the Manchester marathon for Refuge in less than two weeks’ time. The support from readers has been incredible and I’m so grateful - you can sponsor me here:
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