Andy Carroll struck the winner as 10-man Liverpool, cruising to victory after goals from Maxi Rodriguez fired them into a 2-0 lead early on, saw fortunes fluctuate. A red card for goal-keeper Alexander Doni – himself filling in for the suspended Pepe Reina – changed the complexion of the game and thrust third-choice goal-keeper Brad Jones into the limelight.
Jones promptly announced his entrance by saving Ayegbeni Yakubu’s spot-kick but Rovers hauled themselves back and eventually drew level. Yakubu made amends for his penalty miss to head home for 2-1 and then levelled from the penalty spot in the second half to make it 2-2 and give Rovers hope of pulling clear of the relegation zone.
‘A smashing day for us’
However, Carroll was to have the final word with his header a minute into stoppage time to give Dalglish another Ewood Park occasion to put in his memory bank.
“It’s been a smashing day for us,” said Dalgish. “We’ve not had the best of times and we had a man sent off, but we have come away with a 3-2 win. The players deserved credit for the resilience and character they showed. I just want to praise their attitude and commitment.”
Carroll, meanwhile, said the team’s resilience paid off.
“We all believed we could get the winning goal at the end,” he said. “We kept attacking all the way. We haven’t been on the best of runs, but we got early goals and passed it around. We have been a bit unlucky in the past few games, but the luck will come on our side sooner rather than later.”
Blackburn remain in deep trouble near the bottom of the table, and boss Steve Kean was furious that a free-kick was not awarded in the build-up to the winner.
“Until then, we had a point that took us up two places in the league,” said Kean. “Now we’ve got to pick ourselves up. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.
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