Late bloomer Andrews finally making his mark
The Premier League is overflowing with impressive newcomers, from the high-fliers of Hull and Stoke, to unexpected success stories such as Wigan’s Amr Zaki. Now Keith Andrews, Blackburn’s saviour here, looks ready to add his name to that list.
Paul Ince believes the Irishman is ready to prove his worth at this elevated level at the age of 28, after dismissing accusations he signed the midfielder as “an old pals act.”
Ince first became aware of Andrews’ qualities during the latter days of his playing career at Wolves and then worked with him while he was manager of MK Dons last season.
He always felt the Dubliner had the quality to play at the highest level and had no hesitation in taking him to Ewood Park in a £1.3million (€1.6m) deal in August.
Andrews went some way to repaying that faith with a late equaliser during an eventful clash at the Hawthorns. “I played with Keith at Wolves,” Ince said. “He couldn’t get in the side because I was playing but he is a fantastic player.
“He went through a bad time when he was 21, 22. I think he was misguided, misled. His attitude has always been spot on but he needed some guidance and I think, when I went to MK Dons, he got that.
“When I went there he was going to leave but I forced him to stay. By then he was really serious about his football and his talent is second to none for what we paid for him.
“It shows that you can go and buy quality players down the leagues. Keith is much better than that lower league anyway, hence why I brought him to Blackburn.
“Some people tried to question it when I signed him for Blackburn. Some people were saying: ‘Is it an old pals act?’ after working with him before. It wasn’t that. You’ve seen what a quality player he is. You saw that against Aston Villa in midweek when he was man-of-the-match.”
Ince was livid at the dismissal of striker Benni McCarthy for two bookable offences after he had fired Rovers ahead from the penalty spot, and his thoughts on referee Mike Jones were echoed by his West Brom counterpart Tony Mowbray.
West Brom hit back brilliantly in the second half with a Roman Bednar strike. before Ishmael Miller put the Baggies ahead.
The Baggies manager hit out at Jones for awarding Rovers the kind of penalty he believes would mean games ending with cricket scores if they were given on every occasion – a faint tug by Ryan Donk at the shirt of Jason Roberts.
He said: “The bottom line is this is Premier League football and people pay good money to see it and they just want to see a bit of consistency from referees. I thought there were some strange decisions.
“If you give penalties for what the referee here gave penalties in this game, it could end 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 every single week. I think it was a ridiculous decision.”
Carson 7, Zuiverloon 7, Donk 5 (Hoefkens 46, 6), Olsson 5, Robinson 5, Koren 6, Greening 6, Morrison 5 (Brunt 69, 5), Valero 6, Bednar 5, Miller 7 (Moore 80, 5).
Subs Not Used: Kiely, Cech, Kim, Pele.
Robinson 6, Simpson 5 (Tugay 46), Samba 6, Nelsen 6, Olsson 5 (Pedersen 62, 5), Emerton 6 (Khizanishvili 77, 5), Andrews 6, Grella 5, Warnock 7, McCarthy 6, Roberts 6.
Subs Not Used: Brown, Villanueva, Fowler, Derbyshire.
Mike Jones (Chester) 3: Infuriated both managers with overly fussy — and sometimes just plain wrong — decision-making.
*** Eventful to the last kick.. Neither side deserved to lose.
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