ROY Hodgson peered into the not too distant future and declared his Blackburn Rovers team were bang on schedule for their ultimate destination - Europe, writes PETER WHITE.

The Rovers boss, who rightly felt a little disappointed at a Hillsborough draw but will never turn his nose up at another valuable away point, wasn't referring to the pursuit of Manchester United at the top of the Premiership.

In any case, according to the bookmakers, they are the equivalent of the Hole in the Wall Gang - over the hills and far away with the loot, leaving everyone else to eat their dust.

No, Hodgson was being his practical self and sighting much more realistic targets, the one, in fact, he had set the team at the very start of a Premiership campaign which is now into its second half.

"They (United) have a difficult away fixture on Sunday, we have a home fixture," he said.

"But I don't worry too much about gaps at this point in time. I think it's just important that we keep our string of good results going, that we keep on picking up our points and we keep on getting inexorably closer to that 60-point barrier that we think will see us in Europe.

"We have now got 18 games in order to get those 20 points. Before today we had 19 games to get 21.

"But, you know, points away from home are always hard to get."

Viewed in those terms, the huge Rovers following had reason for festive cheer.

When you go as close to winning, however, as their team did, there is always that niggle which suggests you have missed out on something.

Then again, this was an entire game of ifs, buts, almosts and nearlys.

How it finished goalless no-one could quite explain, particularly Wednesday boss Ron Atkinson who managed to spare the Press a couple of minutes of his valuable time more than an hour after the end of the game - and then didn't really have anything to say. In a nutshell, Rovers' front two played well and worked tremendously hard but couldn't find that crucial finishing touch. On another day, they will, as they have done in the past.

Stephane Henchoz's class and composure - and debutant keeper Alan Fettis - were two prime reasons Wednesday didn't score and Billy McKinlay said goodbye for two games with the sort of midfield performance which could yet play him into Scotland's opening line-up against Brazil next June. The game, which was scrappy at times, still buzzed and bristled with plenty of action, fitting for a big Boxing Day crowd.

The first half was fast and furious, frantic even, with Rovers doing well on the break but Wednesday actually going closest to scoring.

Both keepers certainly had to be on their toes.

Kevin Pressman was beaten by Kevin Gallacher in the opening minutes only to be grateful to Mark Pembridge standing on the line.

But the keeper also made good saves at the feet of Damien Duff and from a Stuart Ripley shot after a lovely piece of work coming out of defence by Henchoz.

He would also be relieved to see Colin Hendry's angled drive fly high over and defender Jon Newsome's header sneak just past his own post.

But, while Rovers were the more studious side, Wednesday created one or two moments of panic that could easily have produced a goal.

In the 12th minute, the gangling Petter Rudi, whose skill defies his appearance, juggled and jinked his way into what looked a certain scoring position.

But Gary Croft, who had a real curate's egg of a game, bravely flung himself in the way - despite the threat of injury from collision with a post. Tim Sherwood was alert enough to block the second attempt and Rovers finally cleared their lines.

Fettis's closest call came on 29 minutes when, in another scramble, Benito Carbone produced an accurate and acrobatic overhead kick.

It seemed to have beaten the keeper but, somehow, he got a crucial touch on the ball.

Rovers began the second half well, and finished it even better, while Wednesday had their moments in between. The only mystery was why one of the flurry of penalty area incidents did not produce a goal.

Chris Sutton, who again led the line with guts and graft and linked up well with Gallacher, could easily have had a second half hat-trick. He forced a great one-handed save from Pressman with a sweet left-foot volley two minutes after the break, then just failed to make proper contact with a cross from Duff after excellent work by the winger.

Sutton again, and Gallacher, both had sharp chances by the midway point in the second half. But, by then, Wednesday had also threatened.

Fettis stood his ground excellently to save from Carbone when the Italian, looking suspiciously offside, was left in the clear.

Then, when Hendry didn't put enough power behind a back header, Fettis came to the rescue with another vital touch as Andy Booth threatened to break the deadlock.

In the final period of the game, however, only one team looked like winning it.

Sutton could only put a shot on the turn straight at Pressman but, with time running out, the striker looked on amazed as Wednesday kept out his far post header with the keeper struggling in a series of crosses.

Pembridge was again on the line and, somehow, Sutton's downward header was deflected over to add to a Rovers corner tally, by then well into double figures.

With the referee poised to blow the final whistle, a great chance fell to Gallacher and Rovers fans held their breath.

Sutton set him up for a left-foot volley but, agonisingly, it flew just over. It was the last throw of the dice that came up double zero, when it could so easily have been double six.

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