Rovers a study in waste management

THIS is the part of the season when struggling teams have no margin for error, so it was hardly surprising that Sam Allardyce was in such a black mood after this wasteful display from Blackburn.

Rovers missed the chance to put more daylight between themselves and the drop zone after failing to cash in their dominance for three points, needing second-half sub Keith Andrews to salvage a point after Mark Noble opened the scoring in the 35th minute, the only threat West Ham posed.

Rovers spurned a string of opportunities: El-Hadji Diouf had two efforts ruled out for offside, while Benni McCarthy, Jason Roberts and Morten Gamst Pedersen all missed great chances.

“We can take a lot of encourage- ment from that performance but we must start converting our draws into wins,” Allardyce said. “It’s another point towards what we want to achieve but games are slipping away and opportunities to win games must be taken. We haven’t taken it and that has proved one of our Achilles heels this season.”

Rovers had the better early chances before Noble’s fine right- footed shot, although Allardyce felt Luis Boa Morte was in an offside position.

Allardyce’s humour was partly assuaged in the 51st minute when Pedersen’s long throw caused havoc in the hammers box and the ball sprung loose to Andrews, who fired home confidently from a tight angle.

BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Robinson 6, Ooijer 5 (Andrews 46, 7), Samba 8, Nelsen 6, Givet 6, Diouf 6, Mokoena 6, Warnock 7, Pedersen 6, McCarthy 6, Roberts 6.

Subs Not Used: Brown, Tugay, Dunn, Khizanishvili, Villanueva, Treacy.

WEST HAM (4-4-2): Green 6, Neill 6, Tomkins 6, Spector 6, Ilunga 6, Noble 7, Parker 7, Kovac 6, Boa Morte 6 (Lopez 79, 5), Tristan 5 (Payne 90, 5), Di Michele 5 (Dyer 82, 5).

Subs Not Used: Lastuvka, Sears, N’Gala, Stanislas.

REFEREE: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 6: Allardyce was annoyed at West Ham’s goal not being disallowed for offside, but his beef was with the linesman rather than Foy.

MATCH RATING: ** A clash of styles produced a mish-mash of a game, although the result was fair enough.