Rovers make Pompey pay penalty
A shocking penalty miss from John Utaka capped off a miserable afternoon for Pompey as they crashed to a 2-0 defeat at Ewood Park.
The result leaves Pompey still looking nervously below them, while Blackburn Rovers can now toast reaching the magic 40-point mark.
Substitute Utaka fired his spot-kick woefully over the top after referee Mike Riley harshly pointed to the spot for a handball by Keith Andrews when Kanu drove the ball at the defender in the box.
The damage had already been done at the other end when a far more blatant handball from Hermann Hreidarsson resulted in a penalty which Benni McCarthy tucked away with aplomb on 57 minutes.
Blackburn deservedly led at the break. Their direct approach was largely well negated by Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin at the heart of the Pompey defence but not when it mattered most.
Stephen Warnock's diagonal ball forward found Samba free of the defence. The big defender, not the most graceful of movers, stumbled as he controlled it. David James came flying out of goal and was able to stab clear as Samba challenged only for Morten Gamst Pedersen to poke home the loose ball.
Pompey had little to offer in response. Nadir Belhadj was unable to make the most of a poor back header from Andrews early on and Hreidarsson headed wide from a Sean Davis free-kick.
Blackburn came out firing at the start of the second half. Warnock crashed a shot just wide after a deflection off Kaboul. Samba then found the bottom corner with a header from a Pedersen cross but he was adjudged to have fouled Campbell.
The decisive second for Rovers soon arrived, though, and it proved enough for a comfortable victory, particularly with Utaka spurning the chance to make it interesting late on.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
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