Blackburn Rovers 1 Bolton Wanderers 2THERE WAS an element of Macbeth in the way that Steve Kean had snatched power at Blackburn and there was a Shakespearian quality about what was almost certainly his last match as their manager. Sam Allardyce, who had been sacked after a 2-1 defeat to Bolton last December and who felt that his deputy had betrayed him, was at Ewood Park to see Kean's downfall.
There is a board meeting scheduled for today in India which is likely to conclude with the club’s owners, Venky’s, terminating Kean’s contract after 38 games – a full Premier League season, if spread across two campaigns, in which he has managed a bare seven wins.
In the end, everything was against him. His local paper, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, had demanded his sacking; so too had his MP, former foreign secretary Jack Straw; and so had everyone at Ewood Park. When Bolton scored, chants and banners were aimed at Venky’s and Jerome Anderson, the agent who has acted to no obvious benefit as a club “advisor” to the regime.
Given that the Bolton manager, Owen Coyle, was also under intense and debilitating pressure, this was an occasion – but only in the sense that a bare-knuckle fight is an occasion. It was bloody and brutal and it was Coyle, the boy from the Gorbals, who was the one left standing. Given that his job may have depended on the result, Coyle had made a big call before kick-off by dropping Kevin Davies.
Had Bolton lost, it might have echoed Ruud Gullit’s dropping of Alan Shearer just before the rain-sodden Tyne-Wear derby that sealed the Dutchman’s fate as Newcastle manager.
As it was, another Davies, Mark, ripped Blackburn’s makeshift defence apart before five minutes had passed. In Kean’s defence, he had precious little to choose from – Gael Givet is recovering from a heart condition while Scott Dann tore a testicle at the weekend. They are the kind that tend to afflict managers who are careering towards their doom.
Kean did, however, have the option to select Michel Salgado. However, Salgado is nearing the number of appearances which would trigger a further payment to Real Madrid and although Blackburn did not confirm this was the reason he did not play, the Spaniard was not even on the bench.
On Saturday against West Bromwich Albion, Morten Gamst Pedersen had played left-back for the first time. If it was one of the last decisions of Kean’s managerial career at Ewood Park, it was among his least inspired. The Norwegian was responsible for West Brom’s winner on Saturday and last night he was nowhere near David Ngog as the striker was allowed to recover his footing and pick out Davies, who shot fiercely past Paul Robinson. Kean stood open mouthed in his black raincoat, as well he might. There had been five Blackburn defenders in the area, including one on the line.
It took Blackburn until the 34th minute to mount a coherent attack and it finished with Simon Vukcevic shooting into the side netting. By then Bolton were two up and the crowd was a mixture of revolt and ribaldry, most of it aimed at the man on the touchline.
The second goal from the visitors was at least well worked, as Nigel Reo-Coker exchanged passes with Martin Petrov and finished off the Bulgarian’s return. The midfielder was allowed a suicidal amount of space between the inadequate figures of Grant Hanley and Pedersen. In Pune, where Venky’s directors were watching a live feed of the match, it was nearly two in the morning. Kean’s time was almost up.
There was, however, one thing running in Blackburn’s favour. They were two goals down against a side whose defensive inadequacies have been as nakedly obvious as their own throughout this difficult season. There has never been a serious suggestion that Kean has lost his dressing room and after the interval his players threw themselves forward. Steven Nzonzi looked distraught after shooting over but then Yakubu Ayegbeni burst past Gary Cahill to drive the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen. Suddenly the prospect began to loom of the result that would damn both teams and which Bolton had not experienced since February. A draw. As it turned out, only one team was damned to defeat.
GuardianService
BLACKBURN ROVERS: Robinson, Lowe, Samba, Hanley, Pedersen, Hoilett, Dunn, Nzonzi, Vukcevic (Rochina 65), Formica (Goodwillie 65), Yakubu. Subs not used: Bunn, Petrovic, Blackman, Roberts, Henley. Booked: Formica, Lowe, Dunn.
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Alonso (Robinson 57), Mark Davies, Reo-Coker, Muamba, Petrov, Klasnic (Pratley 81), Ngog (Sanli 72). Subs not used: Bogdan, Eagles, Kevin Davies, Boyata. Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
