Pedersen strikes but Saha gives United edge
Blackburn set up a tantalising Carling Cup semi-final decider, in a fortnight’s time, at Old Trafford.
Rovers’ two-goal hero in their Old Trafford triumph of four months ago, Pedersen gave United another nasty shock last night, blasting home an equaliser to Louis Saha’s opener which ensures the second leg will start level.
After a pulsating contest, Alex Ferguson’s men will regard themselves favourites to face Wigan or Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium on February 26.
Afterwards, Blackburn boss Mark Hughes was satisfied with the overall result but rued his side’s inability to impose themselves as an attacking force in the second half.
He said: “We are reasonably happy with 1-1 - it was a good cup tie and I thought we did really well.
“We went behind but we had a great response and in the first half we could have had a couple more.
“United came back into it more and we allowed them to push us back.
“I don’t think they created any clear-cut chances in the second half but we needed to be further up in the field.
“They have some quality strikers and they will try to dictate to you if they can but if we could have got five or 10 yards further up the pitch that would have helped us.”
Rovers won 2-1 at Old Trafford in September and Hughes insisted Rovers could repeat that result in the second leg.
“We are more than capable of that,” he said.
“Tonight we’ve shown we can compete with one of the best sides in the league.
“They showed us great respect by picking a strong side.”
United boss Alex Ferguson felt the tie was evenly poised.
“We started really badly and could have gone down in the first minute but we started to get our game together when we scored,” Ferguson said.
“They hit back with a fantastic goal and after that it was pretty even but in the second half I was pretty pleased.
“It was a very committed game. Both showed they wanted to win and be in the final. It was a real semi-final.”
Blackburn should have been ahead inside the opening 23 seconds.
David Bentley was the provider, picking out Savage on the penalty spot with a superb cross. The Welshman let fly with a vicious volley but Edwin van der Sar, already diving, kept it out with his legs.
It launched what was to be a frenetic opening period, with the fact it yielded only two goals and left 22 players still taking part in the contest a surprise.
Darren Fletcher was fortunate when Craig Bellamy was too flat-footed to react when he failed to cut out Pedersen’s cross and when Bellamy also lofted a volley over, the suspicion started to mount among Blackburn’s biggest crowd of the season that their side would pay for their failure to seize the initiative. Those fears were totally justified.
Saha was surprisingly preferred to Ruud van Nistelrooy in a strong United line-up that defied Alex Ferguson’s pre-match assertion Saturday’s Manchester derby at Eastlands is a far more important affair in the Red Devils’ soccer calendar.
Yet the injury-prone Frenchman has shown a liking for this competition already this season with three goals, including a double in the last round at Birmingham.
So, when Ryan Giggs slipped a pass through the Blackburn defence, the Frenchman latched onto it with relish, sped into the area, then beat Brad Friedel with a clinical low finish.
Blackburn dug deep and fought their way back into the tie. Pedersen has been in decent scoring form lately and when Shefki Kuqi flicked on Ryan Nelsen’s long ball, Pedersen wasted no time in thundering a shot into the corner.
Just before the break, Wayne Rooney found himself tangled up in Savage’s legs. Alan Smith’s attempt to resolve the impasse was a wild lunge at the Welshman, which could easily have resulted in a red, rather than yellow card.
Savage, now on the ground, twisted away and wrapped an arm round Rooney’s throat, the England firebrand responding with a clear shove in the Blackburn man’s face. All three were cautioned, much to Hughes’ obvious disgust, Rooney’s punishment ruling him out of next week’s FA Cup replay with Burton.
The fire, and some of the pace went out of the contest after half-time.
Kuqi blasted a good chance into the side-netting and Rooney saw his goalbound drive crunch into Saha’s back as the search for a winner continued.
The last opportunity fell to Lucas Neill, but the Australian full-back blazed over, so neither side can start planning their trip to Cardiff just yet.
: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Gray, Bentley (Emerton 76), Savage, Tugay (Reid 76), Pedersen, Kuqi (Dickov 84), Bellamy.
: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Ronaldo, Fletcher (O’Shea 85), Smith, Giggs, Rooney, Saha (van Nistelrooy 82).
: R Styles (Hampshire).
: Livingston 1 Alloa 2.
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