Savage looks on as Blackburn limp through against Cardiff

Blackburn 3 Cardiff 2

After completing his protracted £3m move from Birmingham, the Wales international midfielder has described the last two weeks as a nightmare after going from hero to villain at St Andrews.

Savage watched anxiously as manager Mark Hughes’ side were taken to the wire by Championship relegation strugglers Cardiff.

After Paul Gallagher had cracked a 25-yard right-foot drive over the angle of bar and post in the third minute, Rovers grabbed the early lead just as they did in Cardiff.

It was a superbly-crafted and finished goal, with Lucas Neill and Gallagher setting up David Thompson to rifle home from 16 yards beyond the despairing dive of Tony Warner.

It took until the 20th minute for Bluebirds skipper Graham Kavanagh to muster City’s first opportunity, albeit Brad Friedel requiring help from Rovers captain Andy Todd to mop up the danger after spilling a stinging shot from just outside the area.

Then out of the blue, and for the third successive match, Cardiff hit back from a goal down to level the game in the 25th minute. Richard Langley’s incisive, threaded pass found Jobi McAnuff with time and space inside the area, with the left winger teeing himself up before striking a crisp left-foot shot across the face of Friedel - who could only help the ball on its way into the net.

Cardiff celebrations, though, lasted just seven minutes as Blackburn regained the lead with a fluke from Thompson.

Any fightback hopes for Cardiff were short-lived as Blackburn made it 3-1 within 85 seconds of the restart.

Thompson twisted and turned his way past City defenders before laying the ball off to Neill for a first-time cross to the far post where Pedersen sidefooted home his third goal in three games and his fourth in six starts.

But after an Emerton drive took a slight deflection over the bar off Danny Gabbidon, the Bluebirds showed they were far from dead and buried in the 54th minute.

Kavanagh delivered a free kick from deep to the far post where James Collins rose to power in a header Friedel could only parry, resulting in a scramble and the centre-back poking home the loose ball from inside the six-yard box.

Blackburn were rattled and, on the hour, Cardiff came within a superb save from Friedel of drawing level for a third time against their Premiership opponents.

But Cardiff were not finished and should have equalised in the 72nd minute, only for Langley to scoop over from three yards after a Collins knock down when Friedel made a hash of another Kavanagh free kick.

Rovers managed to hold on to set up a fourth-round date with League One Colchester on January 29.

BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Mokoena, Matteo, Emerton, Tugay (Johansson 60), Thompson, Pedersen, Dickov, Gallagher (Reid 61).

CARDIFF: Warner, Weston (Vidmar 51), Collins, Gabbidon, Barker, Langley, Kavanagh, Inamoto (Ledley 76), McAnuff, Lee, Thorne (Campbell 62).

Referee: S Dunn.

*Hartlepool got the better of Boston, winning 1-0 thanks to Adam Boyd’s goal against the run of play in the 72nd minute and their reward is a trip to Brentford in the fourth round.

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