Premiership: Rovers earn second away win of season

Charlton 0 Blackburn 2

Second-half strikes from Damien Duff and David Dunn earned Blackburn a second away victory of the season at The Valley as Charlton paid the price for a host of missed chances.

Republic of Ireland winger Duff latched on to Keith Gillespie’s clever pass to break the deadlock after 57 minutes before substitute Dunn rifled home a second deep into injury time to stem Rovers recent slide after three successive defeats.

It was a result that had looked highly unlikely for long periods as Charlton dominated the first half, but failed to convert any of half a dozen decent opportunities.

Captain Graham Stuart wasted the best of them when he headed wide from seven yards out, while Jason Euell also endured a frustrating afternoon as he failed to find a finishing touch to several good chances.

It was a sorry way for Charlton’s four-match unbeaten run to end, but a timely result for Blackburn as they leapfrogged their opponents with this victory.

Rovers, whose last Premiership win came at the beginning of November, arrived at The Valley desperate to end a run of five matches without a win that had seen them slide to 15th in the table.

The visitors welcomed back Norwegian defender Stig Inge Bjornebye after a five-match absence, although it is a lack of firepower that had threatened to scupper their hopes of building on a solid start on their return to the top flight.

Manager Graeme Souness hopes to revive a deal to bring Parma’s Yugoslav striker Savo Milosevic to Ewood Park next week, but with top scorer Matt Jansen ruled out with an ankle injury, there was a rare start for Corrado Grabbi.

The Italian struggled to make an impression in the lone striking role usually adopted by Jansen however, as Charlton dominated the first half without rewarding their efforts with a goal.

Having started with the same line-up for the third successive match, Charlton created the first of half a dozen chances as early as the third minute when Claus Jensen sliced his effort across the face of goal from Kevin Lisbie’s cut-back.

Jason Euell, who alongside Kevin Lisbie caused the Rovers rearguard plenty of anxious moments, headed over from Chris Powell’s left-wing cross and later had a 25-yard volley saved by Friedel, before Graham Stuart wasted a glorious chance when he headed wide from seven yards out from another penetrative Powell cross.

Blackburn’s best moment came when Euell inadvertently diverted a Rovers corner towards his own goal, but Dean Kiely, playing his 100th game for the club was alert to the danger.

The Irishman also came to his side’s rescue when Alan Mahon - a surprise starter ahead of England hopeful Dunn - drilled in a free-kick from the right side of the box, and then reacted superbly to deny Tugay’s powerful strike from the rebound.

Mark Fish and Scott Parker both received yellow cards as the game sparked into life before the interval, Jensen narrowly failing to break the deadlock when he curled a free-kick inches wide of Friedel’s right-hand post.

Blackburn began the second half with a greater sense of purpose, Grabbi almost getting on the end of a loose ball in the Charlton box, but it was the home side who continued to show the greater cohesion.

Lisbie should have done better when he was sent racing down the right flank by Jensen after 51 minutes, but his over-hit cross eluded a posse of team-mates in the Rovers area.

Flitcroft then earned the third yellow card of the afternoon for impeding Jensen, and Euell again failed to find a finishing touch to a promising move when he fired over from the edge of the box.

When the opening goal came after 57 minutes it was firmly against the run of play, Duff latching on to Keith Gillespie’s clever pass in the inside right channel to lift the ball across the advancing Kiely and into the far corner.

Rovers might have got a second after 77 minutes when Gillespie was allowed to run unchallenged to the edge of the Charlton area before teeing up Dunn, but the substitute volleyed wastefully over.

Curbishley sent on Chris Bart-Williams and Paul Konchesky as a last throw of the dice, but the closest they came to an equaliser saw Euell volleying over with eight minutes left.

Instead it was Dunn who profited from another Gillespie run down the right, controlling the Irishman’s cut-back before turning and firing into the far corner from eight yards.