LUTON TOWN 0
BLACKBURN R 1
Ohashi 53
Blackburn Rovers manager Valerien Ismael praised his side’s desire and passion as they ended their eight-game winless run with victory at Luton Town.
Japan international Yuki Ohashi scored the only goal of the game after 53 minutes to keep the visitors’ faint hopes of the play-offs alive.
They even played the final half an hour with ten men after Kristi Montgomery was sent off on his full debut for the club.
Ismael delivered his verdict on the game afterwards.
We showed a lot of togetherness – Ismael
He said: “First half we wanted to be really strong – we knew that we had to face the challenge here with a team fighting for surviving.
“They put a lot of balls into the box and we had to defend.
“We showed a lot of togetherness, a lot of support, in the transitions we didn’t play well, but the main focus was to stay strong.
“When you look at the last weeks, we concede always in the first half, which didn’t give us the chance to compete.
“So this was the first step we wanted to do in the game.”
PUMPED: Blackburn’s Yuki Ohashi savours his winner
PICTURES: PSI/Chris Foxwell
Match action
The visitors looked to make a strong start in Bedfordshire, as Ohashi tricked his way into a shooting position only to fire well over.
Thelo Aasgaard’s low drive was blocked in a poor first half.
Just before the break, Luton had their best opportunity when Jordan Clark’s free-kick saw Mark McGuinness head over from close range.
Milli Alli then dragged wide from 30 yards.
Second half
After the interval, Blackburn were ahead.
Ohashi was played through the middle by Ryan Hedges and he kept his nerve to dink the ball over the advancing Thomas Kaminski.
The visitors were dealt a blow after 58 minutes as they were reduced to ten men when Montgomery was shown his second yellow in the space of ten minutes for a foul on Alli, sent off by referee David Webb on his full debut.
Jordan Clark put the resulting free-kick over the top of the angle, but despite ringing the changes, Luton never really looked like equalising until Aasgaard drifted past three players and hammered against the underside of the bar.
In the closing stages, Alli hammered horribly over, and Reece Burke curled too close to Balazs Toth before both Alli and Aasgaard sliced wide from range.
During nine minutes of stoppage time, McGuinness got up to meet Clark’s inswinging corner only to glance wide of the target.
Rovers might have sealed an even greater win when Tyrhys Dolan broke well on the right hand side as, with Makhtar Gueye in a good position, went for goal, Kaminski saving ungainly.
Alli almost snatched a point when his hopeful cross-shot took a nick and somehow ended up hitting the crossbar, with Blackburn keeper Toth rooted to the spot.
Ismael added: “After the red card it was another game, so another game-plan and it was about to survive in the game.
“The boys showed a lot of passion to defend, they wanted to win the game, a big desire.”
Star Man – Yuki Ohashi (Blackburn Rovers)
READ MORE: Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Middlesbrough: Valerien Ismael vows to fight on at Rovers
Cardiff City
Omer Riza is proud of his Cardiff City troops
Championship
OLIVER’S SET FOR BIG STEP
