Rovers lack the key

DUNNYISM (noun) magic on the ball, inventiveness in the final third, a touch of flair.

It's a word made up by Rovers boss Graeme Souness but one which perfectly described what his side lacked against a poor QPR who came to Ewood for a point and got exactly that.

England Under 21 international David Dunn, suspended from Saturday's game, was badly missed in midfield.

Mark Hughes was no substitute for the young player in the creative midfield role and, to make the situation worse, Rovers missed the Welshman's running up front.

Visiting keeper Ludek Miklosko celebrated his 39th birthday with a great display.

His stops from Matt Jansen, Marcus Bent and lively substitute Egil Ostenstad kept Rovers out and earned QPR their first clean sheet away from home this season.

It was a game Souness felt his side deserved to win, although the statistics -- and the reaction of the unhappy Ewood crowd -- may not particularly support his argument.

"I think they showed us a lot of respect coming here and playing like that," said Souness.

"As Tranmere did last week, playing one up front, loading the midfield and sitting back trying to nick the game from us.

"I'm not critical of any team that plays like that because that's how they see they can get a result but we had enough chances to win the game, apart from the penalty.

"We had enough of the ball in really good areas where we didn't pick out the final pass. All in all it was frustrating but I can't fault the players for their effort.

"We lacked a bit of Dunnyism, a bit of magic on the ball, someone to give us something different in the last third.

"Damien Duff gave us that on a couple of occasions in the second half but you need something in that last third when you have a team that comes and sits back and defends."

It was clear early on that Rovers were going to miss Dunn. And Miklosko gave a hint of the form he was in in the 20th minute when he made a double save from Marcus Bent and Matt Jansen.

Rovers' first decent chance fell to centre half Craig Short who followed up Bent's miskick from six yards with a toe-poke wide. The lively Bent was in the thick of it again minutes, flying down the left wing, but saw his cross flicked away off the outstretched foot of Clarke Carlisle with Jansen waiting on the edge of the area.

In the 43rd minute, Rovers were handed the opening they had spent most of the first half searching in vain for.

Jansen moved the ball to Damien Duff down the left who immediately put it in to Bent's feet. With his back to defender Carlisle, the £2million man struggled to get the ball under control and the centre half inadvertently stuck a hand out to palm the ball away before it could fall for the striker.

Jansen stepped up to take the penalty in Dunn's absence but seemed to rush the kick and blasted it straight at Miklosko.

"Everyone thinks taking penalties is easy but he was under pressure taking it and he didn't make a very good job of it," said Souness in Jansen's defence. "He'll learn from that and I think he'll do it differently next time -- if he is going to do it next time."

It was virtually one way traffic in the second half but Rovers still struggled to break through the Rangers defence.

Damien Duff looked Rovers' brightest hope down the left wing and showed the possibilities as early as the 46th minute by firing a low shot wide.

Duff was giving full-back Jermaine Darlington a torrid time out on the left wing but his judgement let him down again in the 58th minute, when he decided to shoot instead of threading the ball through to Bent at the far post.

Midway through the second half, Miklosko did his bit again, saving from the feet of Jansen as the striker tried to lift the ball.

Duff was at it again down the left late on but his cross was cut out by Miklosko.

A rare mistake from the QPR keeper with ten minutes to go should have been punished but his fumble from Duff's cross wasn't capitalised on.

Substitute Ostenstad brought Ewood Park to its feet with his first run at goal after replacing Jason McAteer, but Miklosko was again equal to the effort.

QPR had their chances but never really troubled Brad Friedel.

They looked most likely to get a goal when defender Short deflected a cross goalwards instead of blasting it out but it ended up safe in the hands of the diving Friedel.

The Rovers fans let their frustrations known both at half-time and as the players left the field at the end, but Souness defended his side.

"I can understand the fans' frustration. They have come to see goals scored by their team and if they're frustrated how do you think the players are in the dressing room?

"We've now got two points from a possible nine and realistically it could easily have been nine out of nine.

"The only thing I can be critical of is we just lacked a little bit of something with the final ball time and time again."

Dunnyism perhaps.