Rovers dent Leeds' title hopes

Blackburn 1 Leeds 0

Blackburn captain Garry Flitcroft ended a personal 11-month goal drought as Leeds’ Barclaycard Premiership title pretensions suffered a bitter blow.

Manager Terry Venables’ misery was compounded when Alan Smith missed a point-saving penalty midway through the second half as a remarkable weekend of spot-kick woes for the league’s top strikers continued at Ewood Park.

Arsenal’s Thierry Henry and Liverpool’s Michael Owen both fluffed their penalties yesterday, with England forward Smith making a similar hash as Leeds failed miserably in their attempt to move up to second in the table.

Instead, it was Blackburn who surged into the top half of the table on the back of their first home win of the season, with Flitcroft on the scoresheet for the first time since a 7-1 hammering of West Ham last October.

It was a doggedly gritty display from Rovers boss Graeme Souness’ injury-hit side, while Leeds again failed to live up to past performances, flattering to deceive.

They went into the game on the back of three successive clean-sheet victories, with their two in the Premiership against Newcastle and Manchester United suggesting they had the ability to be genuine title contenders.

But just as they had opened the campaign with wins over Manchester City and West Brom, only to then lose at home to Sunderland and at Birmingham, this defeat suggests they will be too inconsistent to be in the running.

They looked lively from the opening whistle, starting the game with a second minute move involving Paul Robinson, Alan Smith and Lee Bowyer.

It culminated in a fierce drive from Mark Viduka into the midriff of Brad Friedel, but once beyond those early stages, Blackburn then controlled the remainder of the half despite the absence of injured strikers Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Damien Duff and Matt Jansen – and with Corrado Grabbi on the bench with a calf problem.

It left Souness with no choice but to turn to a player he had previously given the cold shoulder – Norway international Egil Ostenstad.

Ostenstad made just four appearances last season, with his last being on New Year’s Day, and he twice came within a whisker of the opener in the 10th minute.

Keith Gillespie’s right-wing cross from the edge of the area flew across the face of goal as Ostenstad and Jonathan Woodgate arrived together at the near post.

David Thompson then picked up the loose ball and drilled it in from the left side, but again Woodgate failed to clear, while Ostenstad was unable to get a touch to steer it towards goal.

After Thompson had curled a 26-yard free-kick wide in the 15th minute, Rovers then took the lead nine minutes later, arguably in controversial circumstances.

As Gillespie tussled with Ian Harte down the right wing, the ball appeared to cross the by-line – but play continued.

Gillespie then took a touch to control and compose before pulling the ball back for Flitcroft to sidefoot home from 14 yards, his shot spinning off the left shin of Woodgate and past a diving Robinson.

Other than a trademark Harte free-kick flashing narrowly wide of Friedel’s right-hand post, Leeds failed to muster another worthwhile chance before the break, either from open play or a set-piece as Rovers defended stoutly.

Leeds clearly missed the often-inspiring presence of Harry Kewell, the Australian spending his 24th birthday at home listening to the game on the radio due to a bout of flu.

Without Kewell Leeds lost the midfield as Keith Gillespie, David Dunn and Thompson were all oustanding, the latter twice denied early in the second half by brilliant saves from Robinson.

Prior to that Leeds should have equalised as a Bowyer cross was poorly dealt with by the Blackburn defence allowing Nick Barmby, fit again after missing the UEFA Cup win over Ukrainians Metalurg Zaporizhya on Thursday, a clear sight of goal.

The midfielder’s attempted chip over Friedel was superbly beaten away by the right hand of the American, with Viduka unable to follow up as this time Rovers cleared their lines.

In an attempt to inject life into his side Venables then made a triple substitution in the 64th minute with Harte, Dacourt and Viduka all coming off and replaced by Gary Kelly, Stephen McPhail and Jamie McMaster, the latter making his debut.

It was with a touch of irony, with Harte and Viduka looking on, that Leeds then won their penalty two minutes later with Henning Berg handling the ball while prone on the ground.

Harte would normally have taken the spot-kick, with Viduka second choice, but instead it was left to Smith and his right-foot sidefoot shot was comfortably saved low to his left by Friedel.

Smith almost made amends 13 minutes from time, rising to head a Kelly right-wing free-kick goalwards, only for Friedel to pick the ball out of the air as Rovers ultimately held firm.