Dunn puts Allardyce in good heart

TONICS do not come much stronger than this. A first away win of the season for Blackburn — and at his former club, too — gave Sam Allardyce a timely lift as he prepared for heart surgery this week.

Allardyce is scheduled to undergo an angioplasty, a procedure to widen one of his coronary arteries, on Friday and was forced to miss the derby against the club he played for and managed.

His team did him proud, though, with influential midfielder David Dunn capping a superb performance by making the breakthrough before Bolton’s Sam Ricketts scored a bizarre own goal in the second half.

“Hopefully we have put a bit of a smile on his face and taken a little bit of stress away from him,” said Blackburn assistant manager Neil McDonald, who deputised in Allardyce’s absence. “I would like to think it will give him a chance to recover knowing his team has done well.

“Sam is a person who looks after himself. He is always having check-ups and making sure he is in good health.

“Luckily they have found it out very quickly. I am told it is routine operation, so he should be back fighting fit very soon.

“I would imagine he would be okay next week for the match against Chelsea. I spoke to him before the game — and he spoke to the players yesterday. They all knew what they had to do. We all have to take responsibility as we are professionals.”

Former Carlisle manager McDonald enjoyed being back in the dugout. “Was I stressed? No it was easy”, he joked. “We are really pleased with the performance.

“We have kept a clean sheet which is a bonus. Everyone played at the top of their game. We have got rid of our away hoodoo. We worked very hard to try and change that.”

Dunn, who almost joined Bolton in the summer, stated his intentions as early as the fourth minute, clipping a shot wide of the post following a misplaced clearance from Ricketts and then saw another effort hooked away by Gary Cahill.

But Dunn was not to be denied and fired the visitors ahead after capping a flowing move involving Franco Di Santo and Jason Roberts with a crisp finish into the corner.

Bolton had looked lethargic for long spells, despite hitting the bar through Matt Taylor’s deflected free-kick, but falling behind at least roused some form of response, with Paul Robinson saving well from another Taylor set-piece.

The second half, however, belonged to Blackburn. Gavin McCann blocked from El-Hadji Diouf and Jussi Jaaskelainen parried Di Santo’s shot before McCann again cleared off the line from Roberts, who had headed the ball goalwards following a flick-on from Ryan Nelsen.

Rovers were laying siege and they plundered the second goal their dominance deserved in the 73rd minute following an embarrassing mix-up between Ricketts and Jaaskelainen.

The full-back headed back a cross from Brett Emerton not realising his goalkeeper had already started walking out.

The pair could only look on in disbelief as the ball nestled firmly in the net to give Blackburn a two-goal cushion they never looked likely to surrender.

Bolton manager Gary Megson was left bewildered by his side’s defending, which ensured they remained in the relegation zone.

“The first goal was always going to be important,” he said. “When they scored it took the wind out of our sails. For us not to get a touch in the build-up is poor in the extreme.

“The second goal was even worse. Jussi was not aware Sam was going to get there but there didn’t seem to be any need for Jussi to come. It was comic cuts.”

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7: Coped well with a feisty game.

MATCH RATING: *** Rovers’ display will have brought a smile to Allardyce’s face.