Brown's double act keeps Rovers happy

14 April 2012
Blackburn 2 Wigan 1

Jason Brown stepped out of the Ewood Park shadows to save a second-half penalty and ensure that Rovers' UEFA Cup heroes did not fall victim to a European hangover in the Premiership

The free transfer summer signing from Gillingham saved substitute striker Svetoslav Todorov's follow-up as well as his 75th-minute spot-kick after coming on at halftime when Brad Friedel suffered a groin injury.

Brown had barely touched the ball on his Premiership debut until the moment centre half Andre Ooijer brought down Emile Heskey, but the former Charlton trainee, 24, showed nerves of steel.

Gleeful Blackburn fans, fearing an embarrassing derby defeat by their rivals in the wake of Thursday's great win over Salzburg, serenaded the nonplussed Brown with "Are you Friedel in disguise?" That was a reference to the big American's feat in saving two penalties at Sheffield United last month, but Brown had already saved a Todorov spot-kick last season in a Carling Cup victory over Portsmouth.

Having drawn level through a sublime David Bentley goal — his second in four days — to cancel out a smart second-minute strike from Heskey, Rovers would have fallen behind again at a vital time.

Instead they surged back at Wigan, showing the second-half power that Mark Hughes demands from his teams, and it was Chris Kirkland who was left looking embarrassed over Blackburn's winner.

Skipper Lucas Neill launched a long ball that England keeper Kirkland and Wigan skipper Arjan De Zeeuw botched between them, allowing Jason Roberts to touch the ball on to partner Benni McCarthy.

The South African striker duly dispatched the 81st-minute winner, his fifth goal since a £2million summer move from Porto, and there were hugs all round for Brown after frustrated Wigan were held at bay.

Hughes said: "Jason came in and did exceptionally well. When your chance comes along it's important that you take it, and I always knew he had potential."

Hughes made only one enforced change from the side that clinched a UEFA Cup group place but insisted: "We were full of running. Maybe it's a mental thing, we didn't allow ourselves to be tired."

But Wigan were the sharper in the first half of what turned out to be a compelling contest. Heskey's strike was a neat near-post effort from Emmerson Boyce's low cross and Wigan's play deserved more.

Rovers' passing was sloppy until another superb goal from Bentley, who stepped over Neill's pass then finished a one-two with Francis Jeffers in first-half added time.

Jewell said: "It was a great goal but the timing kicked us in the teeth. When you score that late it lifts you, and they came out full of energy. We weathered the storm, then missed the penalty."

Wigan's boss refused to point a finger at Todorov for taking the spot-kick "cold" or at Kirkland. "I'm not going to blame anybody. Nobody is more disappointed than Toddy. Chris made some good saves, their keeper made even better ones."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in