Aston Villa - 0 Blackburn Rovers - 0 Glasgow provided a depressing UEFA Cup result for Blackburn in midweek, and Dublin should have done the same for their Premiership ambitions yesterday.
Dion Dublin, the Aston Villa striker, was guilty of a miss which was extraordinary even by the recent abysmal standards set by Graham Taylor's team.
With 69 minutes gone, Dublin met Jlloyd Samuel's cross six yards out but sliced his shot woefully wide, taking with it Villa's chance of their first away win of the season.
"Dion is sat in the dressing room and just can't believe it," said Taylor.
A look at Villa's scoring record shows only seven goals in 12 games and makes you wonder why Dublin was so shocked. This was the eighth time they had failed to find the target, and he and the other five strikers in their squad have managed only three goals between them.
Taylor said: "It's almost become a psychological barrier. We had the best chance of the game but all our strikers don't seem able to score. We've had some quite incredible misses."
The fault doesn't lie entirely with the strikers, however. They were left to feed on scraps yesterday as Villa created only two other clear opportunities - when Juan Pablo Angel headed wide in the 30th minute and Ian Taylor's close-range shot was blocked by the Blackburn goalkeeper, Brad Friedel.
With his attack so devoid of inspiration, it is vital for Taylor's future at Villa Park that his defence remain as organised as they were here. The midlands club have conceded only 11 goals this season, although they lived dangerously at times as Blackburn pursued their third successive Premiership victory.
Dwight Yorke was the threat Villa highlighted before the start. It seemed preordained that Yorke, so impressive against Celtic, would score on his 31st birthday against his former club.
Instead he couldn't muster a single attempt on goal and was replaced by Egil Ostenstad after 20 minutes of the second half. His partner Andy Cole was responsible for their best moments, prompted by Damien Duff, who was an increasingly influential figure.
Cole went closest to a Blackburn goal after only three minutes when his header was touched against the bar by the keeper Peter Enckelman.
After Friedel made his excellent save from Ian Taylor in the 47th minute Blackburn enjoyed their best spell. Enckelman saved Duff's deflected shot with his trailing leg and there were openings for Garry Flitcroft and Duff on either side of that escape for Villa.
Blackburn's final chance vanished when Cole was sent clear by Tugay Kerimoglu's 78th-minute pass and scooped the ball over.
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Short, Taylor (Tugay 76), Johansson, Thompson, Dunn (Gillespie 65), Flitcroft, Duff, Cole, Yorke (Ostenstad 65). Subs Not Used: Grabbi, Kelly. Booked: Duff.
ASTON VILLA: Enckelman, Delaney, Staunton, Mellberg, Samuel, Leonhardsen, Taylor, Kinsella, Barry, Dublin (Crouch 76), Angel (Moore 70). Subs Not Used: Hitzlsperger, Johnsen, Postma. Booked: Moore, Barry.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral)
