Blackburn 0 – 0 Sunderland

Blackburn salvaged a point against Sunderland despite playing more than half the match with 10 men following the dismissal of defender Chris Samba.

In first-half added time Samba slipped, and having been dispossessed by Danny Welbeck, hauled down the striker on the edge of the area and was sent off.

Earlier, on a wet night, Darren Bent went clean through but his effort was blocked by the agile Paul Robinson.

Bent headed straight at Robinson late on but Rovers deservedly earned a draw.

Prospects for a high-scoring encounter were not good, with only 22 goals between the teams in 14 previous Premier League meetings, and both sides mustering seven apiece in their opening eight games.

Torrential rain sweeping across Ewood Park suggested otherwise, as did the inclusion of Bent, scorer of more than half of Sunderland’s Premier League goals since his arrival from Tottenham in the summer of 2009, and declared fit after the groin injury that kept him out of the Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro.

blackburn v sunderland

Given the congested bottom half of the table either struggling side could have risen as high as seventh with a victory but there were few efforts on target.

Morten Gamst Pedersen nearly opened the scoring with a swerving, dipping free-kick that Simon Mignolet – again preferred in goal for the Wearsiders to Craig Gordon – managed to tip over the bar.

Bent then squandered a good opportunity, the Black Cats’ top scorer latching on to a long ball after a mistake by Givet but shooting weakly at Paul Robinson in a one-on-one situation.

Then in first-half stoppage-time Samba brought down Welbeck just outside the box. The Rovers skipper was given his marching orders, with Phillip Bardsley striking the resulting free-kick against the wall and Bent firing the rebound wide.

In the second half Benjani had to come off after sustaining a knock and Mame Biram Diouf was sent on, while Boudewijn Zenden, who had come on for Steed Malbranque, got a header on target which Robinson saved.

The newly-introduced Diouf tried a snapshot that did little to trouble Mignolet and Asamoah Gyan went closer with a curling shot that slipped narrowly wide.

Boudewijn Zenden also had a speculative shot towards the end but the game had been petering out for some time by then and a 0-0 draw seemed the only fair result by the final whistle.

Blackburn

* 01 Robinson
* 03 Olsson
* 04 Sambared card
* 05 Givet
* 27 Salgado (Dunn 65)
* 28 Jones
* 07 Emertonyellow card
* 12 Pedersen
* 15 Nzonzi
* 09 Kalinicyellow card (Mwaruwari 64) (Diouf 81)
* 10 Diouf

Substitutes

* 13 Bunn,
* 33 Morris,
* 39 Chimbonda,
* 08 Dunn,
* 21 Mwaruwari,
* 23 Hoilett,
* 41 Diouf

Sunderland

* 22 Mignolet
* 02 Bardsley
* 04 Turner
* 15 Onuoha (Gyan 64)
* 19 Bramble
* 06 Cattermole
* 08 Malbranque (Zenden 75)
* 10 Henderson
* 27 Al-Muhammadiyellow card
* 11 Bent
* 17 Welbeck

Substitutes

* 01 Gordon,
* 05 John Mensah,
* 14 Da Silva,
* 29 Ferdinand,
* 07 Zenden,
* 16 Riveros,
* 33 Gyan

Ref: ProbertAtt: 21,894