Bellamy double ends Blackburn goal drought

Blackburn 3 Huddersfield 1

Craig Bellamy hit a brace for Blackburn to help end Rovers’ month-long goal drought and put them in the Carling Cup third round.

Making his second start following a return from a thigh injury, Bellamy found the net for the first time since his £5m (€7.41m) summer signing from Newcastle in the 11th minute with a confident finish.

Georgian defender Zurab Khizanishvili, on a season-long loan deal from Rangers added another on the hour mark.

Huddersfield’s hot-property Pawel Abbott hit his ninth goal of the season with 10 minutes remaining but Bellamy added another just five minutes later to seal victory for the 2002 League Cup champions.

Paul Dickov partnered Bellamy for the first time in attack and they combined well, although both were needlessly booked before half time.

Second in League One, Huddersfield started the game full of confidence and stroked the ball around against a Blackburn team showing four changes from the side which lost 3-0 to Newcastle on Sunday.

However, Rovers ended a 391-minute wait for a goal with Bellamy’s breakthrough.

The Wales international picked the ball up deep and raced onto a return ball from Brett Emerton behind the Terriers defence before tucking the ball past Paul Rachubka.

Abbott then sent a free-kick just wide of the post after David Bentley handled just over 20 yards out but Bellamy remained a constant threat, particularly down the left flank, and again out-paced the Town defence.

He could not find Emerton with a cross which was cleared before skipper Ryan Nelsen headed over on two occasions from corners.

Frustrated Rovers were caught offside on eight occasions before the interval and Bellamy was booked for dissent after one flag before Dickov was also shown a card after he put the ball in the net after the whistle had gone for another.

Terriers skipper Jon Worthington rifled narrowly over less than a minute into the second period before another give and go with Emerton saw Bellamy again tear past Nathan Clarke but Rachubka held his shot at the second attempt.

At the other end, substitute Chris Brandon’s long diagonal pass found its way to Schofield at the far post but Lucas Neill slid the ball away before he could strike at goal.

The action continued with Rachubka getting a hand to Emerton’s flick from Robbie Savage’s free-kick, but he could do nothing about Khizanishvili’s header from Bentley’s resulting corner.

Bentley almost made it three with a lob which landed on the roof of the net but Town would not lie down and their fans desperately appealed for a penalty as Abbott and Schofield had shots blocked in the area.

Bellamy remained a danger and one cross to Dickov was just cleared by Clarke, while the Scot sliced wide when he was picked out once again by his strike-partner.

Town pulled one back when Brandon slid the ball through to Abbott and he smashed past Brad Friedel to give the visitors hope in the 79th minute.

But Huddersfield were killed off when substitute Morten Gamst Pedersen again played Bellamy through with six minutes left.

The angle of the Welshman’s run prevented a challenge from defender John McCombe and he again produced a clinical finish before Friedel tipped over from Abbott’s chip in added time.