Queen's spark danger!

BLACKBURN Rovers may still be dealing in Monopoly money compared to the majority of their First Division rivals.

But gone are the days of lording it up in all four corners of the capital - for the time being at least!

Manager Brian Kidd was frank enough to admit that this was far from a sparkling performance.

Yet for all Rovers deficiences in another unconvincing display, at least his side summoned up the character to produce a rousing second half fightback.

And though the glitz may be missing at the moment, this hard-earned point could still prove to be valuable money in the bank come the end of the season.

The fans were serenaded by the theme tune from the cartoon Top Cat just prior to kick off.

And it proved to be something of an omen as Rovers disappeared up too many blind alleys for long periods of this game.

With Kidd again opting to start with a 4-3-3 formation, the visitors lacked width as an attacking force.

And that gave Rangers' wing-backs Ian Baraclough and Jermaine Darlington the licence to roam down the flanks at will.

With teenager Richard Langley also revelling in his central midfield role, that allowed Gerry Francis's men to take a vice-like grip. It was only when Kidd switched to 4-4-2 and 'Officer Dribble' Damien Duff came on as half time sub that Rovers started to pose a threat themselves.

Suddenly, they looked to have far more shape and balance as Lee Carsley and Per Frandsen became more influential.

And not only did that earn them a point, it helped to prove one as well.

If Rovers want to make an impact in this division then they need to scrap playing 4-3-3 and start playing to their strengths again.

The Championship success of 1995 was built on the back of two wingers with two forwards down the middle.

And, in fairness to Kidd, that's the way he wants to go when he has everyone fit.

He would have started like that had Carsley not been nursing a knock on the foot, picked up in the 2-1 deafeat at Swindon on Tuesday.

But Kidd decided to compensate for that by having an extra man in the centre of midfield and though it provided Carsley with extra protection, it stifled Rovers as an attacking force.

Strikers like Ashley Ward and Nathan Blake thrive on crosses.

But with no-one out wide to provide the service from the flanks, they were largely anonymous for large chunks of this contest.

Rangers, on the other hand, attacked with vigour down the wings, especially in the first half.

But for the brilliance of John Filan, they could have been two or three up by half time. Former Arsenal man Chris Kiwomya missed a sitter after just eight minutes, firing wide from penalty spot range after great work by Gavin Peacock.

Then Peacock, himself, forced a smart save out of Filan after Darlington's cross flicked off the head of Christian Dailly.

But the afternoon very nearly turned sour for the Rovers keeper in the 20th minute when he came thundering out of his area and caught Kiwomya as he chased a Danny Maddix through ball.

For a moment, referee John Kirkby looked like he was going to reach for his red card but the Aussie breathed a huge sigh of relief when he escaped with a booking.

That fired up the home crowd, though, and their team raised the tempo after that.

Filan clawed away a shot by Stuart Wardley then the same player had a penalty appeal turned down when his cross-shot appeared to strike the hand of Simon Grayson.

It was all one-way traffic as Filan denied Kiwomya with another super save.

And seven minutes before the break, Rangers should have made their pressure count but Filan somehow got down to his right to palm away a shot from Peacock and Langley struck the underside of the bar with the follow up.

That let-off gave Rovers the chance to regroup at half time and they posed more of a threat after the break.

Duff - on for the ineffective Egil Ostenstad - provided a new outlet down the left and Frandsen suddenly started producing the kind of invention which made him a cult hero at Bolton.

Defender Karl Ready nearly deflected a fierce Frandsen cross-shot past his own keeper.

And Duff then served up a chance with a searching cross from the left but Ward fired wide at full stretch.

But Rovers best chance came with nine minutes left when Nathan Blake met Simon Grayson's right-wing cross with a diving header six yards out but Lee Harper pulled off a stunning save.

Even then, Rangers could have nicked it in the last five minutes.

Ready's cross was headed down by Kiwomya and Peacock's effort was touched around the post by Filan.

But that would have been cruel on Rovers who deserved a point for their second half fight back.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.