RAY Harford saw Graham Fenton grab himself another slice of glory at Ewood last night and suggested the young Geordie can go on to become a genuine hero for Blackburn Rovers. Fenton grabbed the winner in a game dominated by Alan Shearer's record-breaking strikes - again! - before he headed for hospital and the Rovers boss said: "Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Maybe Graham can make a name for himself in the remaining games."
Harford also had high praise for his midfield duo of Tim Sherwood and Billy McKinlay, saying: "I thought Tim was outstanding, terrific. And Billy was not far behind him."
But it still remained Shearer's night as he set even higher standards and Harford was delighted that the fans gave the England striker such a tremendous salute at the end of his season. "What do you say about the first player ever to score 30 goals in three successive seasons (in the top flight)," he admitted, lost for words about an incredible footballer. "It was nice for the crowd to make such a big thing of it as well. I thought it was very fitting." Had he considered substituting Shearer because of the injury problem? "I was never going to take him off," said Harford. "And I don't think he would have been very happy if I had," he said. And, on the game, the Ewood boss added: "In the second half, I thought we played very well. They were hard to play against in the first half and we never really got started. But I thought we deserved more goals in the second half."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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