[themaclad]

Blackburn Rovers
Deepdale 22/9/2024 12.00pm

We are on the telly

https://www.rovers.co.uk/

Manager



Guy is doing a decent job at Ewood

LAST TIME OUT





MACS MYSTIC FORM GUIDE

PNE 5 ROVERS 13

The Ewood side have had a more than decent start to the season

IN FORM



Ohashi looks a more than decent recruit in fairness they have bought well this close season and results have shown that

NEWBIES



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T'OTHER GAMES



The Fitness Test
Paul Heckingbottom will provide a team news update in his pre-match press conference.

Rovers

Blackburn Rovers, in their first full season under head coach John Eustace, have made a positive start to the campaign, sitting third in the table heading into the weekend’s round of fixtures.

Having lost last season’s Championship top scorer Sammie Szmodics in the summer, they’ve added reinforcements, including Japanese forward Yuki Ohashi, who has netted four times since his arrival from Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

North End’s Lancashire rivals also added plenty of experience in August, with Andreas Weimann, Danny Batth and Lewis Baker checking in at Ewood Park.

The Officials

Referee: Matthew Donohue
Assistant Referees: Blake Antrobus and Matthew Jones
Fourth Official: Oliver Langford

Matthew Donohue will take charge of Sunday’s Lancashire derby.

Donohue last refereed a North End fixture in October 2023 when Millwall took a point away from Deepdale.

So far this season, he’s shown 17 yellow cards in four matches.

MACS VIEW

Nearest but not definitely dearest arrive for the first lot of local bragging rights this season, 20000 expected hopefully the vast majority will not be going home disappointed.
They have tended to do better at Deepdale than at Ewood, they have started well this season, still unbeaten but hopefully we are starting to turn things around since the change of manager, should be an entertaining Sunday lunch game but who will be getting their just deserts

[themaclad]

While the preparation for Sunday’s Lancashire derby against Blackburn Rovers has been business as usual, Paul Heckingbottom hopes the match will feel different for his players.

When they walk out at Deepdale shortly before 12pm, they’ll be greeted by a near-enough sold-out stadium, who will no doubt get right behind the team.

Buoyed too by an impressive victory over top-flight Fulham in the Carabao Cup during the week, there should be no lack of confidence heading into the weekend.


Hecky said: “Derbies aren’t what they used to be. They tend to get talked about a lot now and they can fizzle out, but I hope it’s different on Sunday.

“I hope the energy comes from the crowd. I hope the performance is top drawer from us. I hope the referee manages the game really well and allows it to flow and allows both teams to have a go at producing something good for the fans.

“It’s our opportunity to put in a good performance for them and try and get them all there at the next home game and try and sell it out again. We want to do that.

“The fans have been great. We’ve had two home games now and three away, and the away support’s been first class, so it’s something we want to keep building on. We want the fans to enjoy what they’re seeing and the two home games so far have been totally different, but they’ve gone home happy.”

The most recent of those matches was Tuesday’s Carabao Cup third round victory over Fulham, which broke the record for the longest shootout in the competition’s history.


There were a few bumps and bruises picked up in that game, and there may need to be late decisions made surrounding the fitness of a few players.

Hecky said: “Hughesy’s (Andrew Hughes) still not trained today. Milly (Milutin Osmajić) has trained a little bit but we’re just looking after him a bit, so they should be fit and raring to go tomorrow.

“Will Keane’s been back in training today which is good and obviously Pat Bauer hasn’t trained. We’re waiting to see the news from the surgeon regarding that.

“As we’ve done in the games, we’ve been able to change the team about depending on who we play, and change the team about during a game which is always helpful.

“From my point of view, it’s good to know what you’ve got when you’re making changes within a game, and more often than not probably at least in four of the five games I feel like we’ve strengthened when we made the subs and that’s been really important for us.”

Rovers will arrive at Deepdale still unbeaten in Championship action so far this season, sitting third in the table after five matches.

Since retaining their place in the second tier on the final day of the previous campaign, John Eustace has lost his top scorer Sammie Szmodics, although summer signing Yuki Ohashi seems to have picked up the goalscoring baton, having netted five times already.

“They’ve been good,” said Hecky, on Blackburn’s start. “It was a tough job last year for them to stay up, but they managed to do it.

“John’s recruited well this summer, adding lots of experience for this league and they seem to have built on what they had. The last couple of seasons I thought they were dangerous going forward and a little bit weak at the back in terms of leaking chances which seemed to cost them towards the end of the season.

“Last season, towards the end, they tried to tighten things up and got some really strong results away from home, and you thought they’d kick on, but then they got dragged back into it and stayed up towards the end of the season.

“This season they seemed to have maintained that threat at the top end of the pitch and being a bit stronger without the ball as well, and that’s why they’re up near the top.”

PLASTIC VIEW

John Eustace has revealed he has a fully fit squad to choose from, with only Scott Wharton ruled out of the trip to Preston North End on Sunday.

Wharton, a long-term absentee, isn’t expected to be back in action until the beginning of pre-season, but a number of first-team players are back available.

Makhtar Gueye returns after sitting out the win against Bristol City due to suspension, whilst Callum Brittain, Harry Pickering, Arnor Sigurdsson and Harry Leonard are all ready to go after suffering with injury issues and illness.

And ahead of the latest Lancashire derby, which comes just weeks after the clash against Burnley and Turf Moor, Eustace has said training’s been intense ahead of the games at Deepdale.

“We’re looking good and I think everyone’s available, which is great news,” the 44-year-old said to RoversTV ahead of Sunday’s showdown.

Harry Leonard training.jpg
“It’s about the squad, I’ve said that from day one, it’s about everyone playing a huge part over a 46-game season.

“It gives us good options and it’s good that we have lots of competition for places.

“Training’s been very intense and very competitive, which is what we want.

“You can see that togetherness growing and building day by day. It drives the standards and people can’t afford to have days off.

“They can’t afford to not train properly and we’re creating the right environment where people want to come in every day, have a good day of training every time and to be competitive," he added.

“There’s a real buzz around the place. The staff have been amazing and the players have all bought into what we want to do.

“Everyone’s ready to fight and scrap for Blackburn Rovers.”

[themaclad]

Preston North End 0 Blackburn Rovers 0

PNE line-up: Woodman; Potts, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Whiteman, McCann; Frøkjær (Kesler-Hayden, 63), Greenwood, Bowler (Holmes, 63); Riis (Osmajić, 62). Subs not used: Cornell, Whatmough, Keane, Ledson, Thórdarson, Okkels.

Blackburn Rovers line-up: Pears; Carter, Batth, Hyam, Beck; Tronstad (Cantwell, 77), Travis; Hedges (Cozier-Durberry , 77), Dolan (Weimann, 65), Baker (Gueye, 45); Ohashi (Pickering, 90). Subs not used: Tóth, McFadzean, Rankin-Costello, Buckley.

Attendance: 20,945 (5,718 Rovers fans).

Referee: Mr M Donohue.

9 yellows, 2 reds and a bit of canalbalism, just your everyday Lancashire derby, wasn't actually a dirty game by he booked everyone who made a poor tackle.
Dinner time kick offs are usually poorish games this was a rare exception played at a frentic pace in the first period, little in the way of goal mouth action but always an interesting watch. They started slightly the better as befits a side who have not lost this season.
As per some of our passing is absolutely dire at times,, gets us into trouble as Riis nearly did when he passed to Dolan. Started to dominate as the half wore on got into goodish positions but final ball well defended by the odd folk from the East.



Getting towards half time the first semblence of a chance a Hedges shot palmed away by Woodman, straight to ex player, he hit the post, shocking miss and then the first red, not seen it but it's a tackle from the side gets player a ball and then Greenwood collects a red. Well that makes it harder but it actually didn't, had the chance to lead at half time good saved by Pears from both Potts and Hughes

Although a man light in the second half hey never really troubled us, had plenty of the ball but found it hard to get past our 441 line up. We defended the box excellently and got stuck in denying them any space in midfield. Actually looked dangerous when we ventured forward. Then it was ten a side Beck hacking Holmes to the ground after the whistle had gone, sparked a massive hand bag scenario(Fine incoming) Beck was sent off correctly and Osmajic decides to eat a bit of him during the ensuing scuffle, a holiday for Milli will be on the cards a lengthy one at thst.
Whitman good effort saved by Pears would have been off the scale if we had won it late on but it's a great point.
McCann truly tremendous game.

Credit the manager substitutions worked as well.

Eustace

John Eustace felt Rovers didn’t do enough to win the game and that the draw was the fairest outcome following the 0-0 stalemate against Preston North End.

Both teams ended a man light with Sam Greenwood shown red for a high lunge on Lewis Baker before half time before Owen Beck was given an early bath just moments before the end of the encounter - which looked very harsh.

Rovers probed, with Tyrhys Dolan hitting the post in the first half - and Eustace threw on Todd Cantwell, Makhtar Gueye, Andi Weimann and Amario Cozier-Duberry in a bid to produce a match-winning moment that never came.

At the other end, Rovers were thankful to Aynsley Pears, who produced some good stops to earn a second successive clean sheet and earn a point on the road.

“I thought it was a really difficult game for us but we battled really well,” the 44-year-old said to RoversTV when reflecting on the Lancashire derby.

“I didn’t think we were good enough on the ball but we dug deep in the difficult moments, particularly in the first half.

“We had almost 6,000 fans behind us to keep the ball out of the net and we did limit them to next to nothing, even though there was a lot of pressure on us.

“We had the best chance of the game with Ty hitting the post but there’s a lot to work on because we weren’t good enough in the final third.

“Overall, I’m happy with the fight on display, I’m happy with the point because it’s six unbeaten now in the league.

“We’re up against a very experienced Preston team who enjoy defending their box and we couldn’t come up with a solution today.

“On a positive, it’s another clean sheet - our second in a row - and it’s six unbeaten.”

[themaclad]

[themaclad]

Preston North End forward Milutin Osmajic has been charged by the Football Association with violent conduct after allegedly biting Blackburn Rovers defender Owen Beck.

Beck, who is on loan from Liverpool, was sent off in the closing stages of Sunday's goalless Lancashire derby for kicking out at Preston's Duane Holmes.

A melee followed, with Beck, 22, furiously protesting to referee Matthew Donohue that he had been bitten by Osmajic, who received a yellow card.

Television replays appeared to show 25-year-old Osmajic had bitten Beck on his upper back.

Osmajic has until Monday, 30 September to provide a response, the FA said., external

Luis Suarez, then of Liverpool, received a 10-match ban in 2013 for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

Blackburn manager John Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire: "Owen's got a big bite mark on the back of his neck and it's a shame the referee didn't see that."