Meddlesome Middlesbrough keep pressure on Kidd's men

ALMOST two years ago, in May 1997, a goalless draw at home to Middlesbrough signalled Premiership survival almost at the end of a traumatic season for Blackburn Rovers.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of Saturday's stalemate against a side who came to make a point and did just that.

For Rovers might yet live to rue the single point they collected, compared to the precious two which slipped through careless hands.

The dark clouds of anxiety hovering over the club's top-flight position continue to gather.

All is not lost, illustrated by other results. But the fact remains that Rovers still face the giant task of claiming enough points to save their skins.

Anyone looking for straws to clutch might have seen an omen in the last-minute free kick struck by Paul Gascoigne against John Filan's crossbar.

Go back those two years and recall another last-gasp Boro free kick, this time from Brazilian Juninho, and a Tim Flowers save which secured that crucial point.

Will we look back next month and see Saturday's late escape as a turning point?

It would be comforting to think so, but three more victories still need to be added to the collection before that can be achieved.

Statistically speaking, Saturday was a significant day and the depth of the Ewood depression is underlined by the fact that yet another opportunity slipped by to end an appalling sequence. Not since December 1997 have Rovers won two Premiership matches back to back, which tells you something about how long the rot had been setting in.

On a more positive note, the goalless draw was their first defensive clean sheet in 10 League games, as well as a third unbeaten match in a row.

But, on a frustrating afternoon, there was rarely the suggestion they were going to produce the win they desperately needed.

The fans kept faith to the end and the players never gave up chasing that elusive goal.

But Brian Kidd was spot on afterwards to pinpoint the lack of quality in the attacking third of the field as the main reason why his team failed.

The final pass, cross or finishing touch was always just missing, perhaps best summed up in the 65th minute when Jason Wilcox for once got his cross right, pulled back low to Chris Sutton.

But the striker, battling manfully despite obvious fitness problems, mis-kicked and the chance was gone.

To be fair, it was always going to be easier to hit defenders than attackers with crosses - because there were so many of them.

Boro might have bored their way to a point but boss Bryan Robson wasn't about to apologise for his team's approach, and why should he?

"When we are playing away from home it's not up to us to entertain the fans. That's for the home side to do," he confessed. "After the run that we had away from home we just had to keep getting points from away games and that's what we have done."

From their point of view you can't argue and it has been a long-standing Rovers trait that they struggle against teams whose prime ambition is to keep their own goal intact.

The first half was instantly forgettable, poor fare apart from the contribution of three players in particular.

Darren Peacock set a standard he maintained throughout the match of being first to everything at the back.

Jason McAteer was as invaluable an attacker as he was defender and provided most of the decent service to a strike force who didn't have the movement of the previous game - a possible factor being that Sutton was not at his most mobile.

And Matt Jansen, who could turn out to be a sensation if Rovers can eventually give him a successful platform, caused plenty of problems.

For too many players in a creative sense, however, the flesh was willing the end product was weak.

Boro's well-protected keeper Mark Schwarzer was not troubled enough, despite Rovers dominating possession and there was a rare scare when John Filan had to save Dean Gordon's early header.

There was definitely more zip about Rovers in the second half, especially down the flanks, but, again, the quality of the crossing was poor.

Jansen had Schwarzer scrambling but it was significant that Callum Davidson, with two surging runs, put in the best goal efforts of the half.

At the other end, Boro should have scored when Hamilton Ricard, one half of their ineffective two-man attack, skied a fierce cross over from six yards. Then there was that late scare when Gascoigne just failed to steal an unwarranted win, striking wood instead of netting.

Really, the game was a scruffy affair which got the scoreline it deserved.

Though Robson also had a few words of comfort for his former Old Trafford clubmate Kidd in the relegation struggle.

"Brian knows what the game is about. It's just about the old cliche, taking each game as it comes, and I am sure Brian will do that," he added.

So, you bank the point and hope for three next time . . . at Highbury tomorrow!

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