Rovers finish on high but Villa steal sixth

THIS was not the ending Aston Villa had hoped for but it was still sufficient to earn the net result manager Martin O’Neill really wanted – sixth place.

Richard Dunne scored an own-goal in the 84th minute to give a battling Blackburn a 1-0 win and revenge for being on the wrong end of a 6-4 thriller that sent Villa to the League Cup final earlier in the season.

Dunne was trying to prevent Junior Hoilett heading into goal but inadvertently saved him the job.