Hammers and Rovers record stalemate

Morten Gamst Pedersen
12 April 2012

West Ham and Blackburn played out a goalless draw in their Barclays Premier League clash at Upton Park.

The Hammers, watched by new co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold following their successful takeover, had plenty of possession but lacked a cutting edge in attack even after the second-half introduction of fit-again Carlton Cole.

Rovers had the better of the chances, with Morten Gamst Pedersen's 25-yard free-kick crashing against the crossbar and substitute Jason Roberts failing to beat Robert Green when clean through with 15 minutes left.

The hosts slowly built some pressure early on, with Valon Behrami almost getting on the end of a decent cross by Alessandro Diamanti from the left channel.

Jack Collison and Behrami then got in each other's way as a loose ball presented itself just inside the 18-yard area.

In a rare moment of action at the other end, Nikola Kalinic went down under pressure from Jonathan Spector, but referee Peter Walton waved away half-hearted penalty appeals.

Just before half-time, Rovers came within inches of going ahead.

Behrami tripped Pedersen around 25 yards out. The midfielder took the shot himself and was unfortunate to see his effort crash off the crossbar with Green beaten.

Rovers injected some fresh legs into their attack as Roberts replaced Kalinic, before Green pushed Pedersen's goalbound drive away and Cole was back to clear Gael Givet's shot off the line after it appeared to hit Mark Noble on the arm.

The substitute should have beaten Green when shrugging off James Tomkins just inside the penalty area, only to then, 12 yards out, shoot too close to the England goalkeeper.

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