A CRAZY opening seven minutes at Ewood Park saw Wednesday gift Blackburn Rovers three goals and put paid to any hopes of a Carling Cup shock on Wednesday night.
The hosts made a blistering start to the second round clash and took full advantage of Wednesday’s defensive frailties as a brace from Ruben Rochina David Goodwillie strike put them 3-0 up.
It could have been more for Steve Kean’s men, who also saw two goals chalked off by the officials in the first-half. The Owls at least salvaged some pride from the contest when Clinton Morrison netted what turned out to be a consolation strike early after the break.
Both sides made changes for the cup clash, although Rovers may have looked at the game as the chance to kick-start their season after a sluggish start in the Premier League.
Kean named a strong-looking squad and Rovers simply blew their visitors away in a scintillating opening seven minutes.
Rovers came flying out of the traps and Rochina slotted his first home in the third minute, diverting home a Brett Emerton cross, before the Spanish strike broke free of a shell-shocked Wednesday defence just a minute later to double Blackburn’s lead.
Wednesday were rattled and Rovers made matters worse in the seventh minute, this time Goodwillie cashing in on some poor Wednesday defending to make it 3-0 and give the visitors a huge mountain to climb.
O’Donnell could do little about any of the three goals as his defence simply crumbled in front of him. The Owls struggled to get back into the game but Goodwillie’s strike was, at least, to be Rovers’ last of the game.
The Scottish striker could have made it four had another effort not been ruled out for offside as the Owls were living dangerously in defence.
The early set-back prompted Megson to make a change to his formation but it wasn’t helped by an injury to Jon Otsemobor, who was taken off injured, Chris Lines taking his place midway through the half and Liam Palmer dropping to right-back.
Giles Coke issued Wednesday’s real shot in anger before half-time, but Rovers were in total control when the referee blew for half-time.
Half-Time: Blackburn 3-0 Wednesday
Wednesday made one change for the second-half, with Morrison coming on to replace Gary Madine in a like-for-like change.
Things couldn’t have got much worse for the Owls, but the visitors actually grabbed a lifeline not long after the restart and it was through that man Morrison, latching on to a Lines ball to score for Wednesday.
It gave Wednesday a lift and they started playing better football after the goal – things couldn’t have got much worse – although the goal threat was still there from Rovers as Radoslav Petrovic had two good chances to extend the hosts’ lead.
Goodwillie also had a good chance to bag his second of the night but O’Donnell came racing from his line to produce a top-drawer save and keep the visitors in the contest.
Time was ticking away though, and Blackburn didn’t allow the Owls too many sights on goal. Giles Coke did test Bunn from long-range, while James O’Connor had a couple of half chances to grab Wednesday a second goal, but it wasn’t to be.
Full-Time: Blackburn 3-1 Wednesday
Wednesday: O’Donnell, Otsemobor (Lines 26), Batth, R Johnson, Reynolds, Sedgwick, O’Connor, Coke, Palmer, Madine (Morrison 46), Uchechi. Unused substitutes: Weaver, Beevers, Prutton, Bennett, Semedo.
Blackburn: Bunn, Emerton, Olsson, Givet, Hanley (Lowe 46), Nzonzi (Dunn 71), Petrovic, Rochina (Hoillet 81), Pedersen, Formica, Goodwillie. Unused substitutes: Robinson, Salgado, Ribeiro, Roberts.
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