David Hoilett’s clinical late goal put Blackburn through to the FA Cup fourth round after a poor match against weakened Championship pace-setters QPR.
Hoilett who scored with a precise shot from the edge of the area after he had been set up by El-Hadji Diouf.
To make matters worse for QPR, Jamie Mackie suffered a double fracture of his leg after a collision with Gael Givet, who was also carried off.
David Hoilett
QPR hit the woodwork twice through Petter Vaagan Moen and Kaspars Gorkss.
Vaagan Moen’s 40-yard free-kick in first half injury-time was tipped on to the bar by Mark Bunn and then Gorkss hit the bar with an 84th minute header, although the west Londoners were always second best.
Blackburn had a string of first half chances but failed to take them.
Marne Biram Diouf and Ryan Nelsen both missed the target before Paddy Kenny denied both Dioufs and Givet.
At the other end, before he was injured Mackie had a shot cleared off the line by Nelsen.
Rovers continued to dominate in the second half and Hoilett finally won it with his first goal for 16 months.
Half-time substitute Jason Roberts then should have made the game safe but headed wide when unmarked from Josh Morris’s cross to the near post.
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Blackburn are better off without galactico duo David Beckham and Ronaldinho – according to Rovers defender Michel Salgado.
Just how credible and realistic Blackburn’s double bid for Beckham and Ronaldinho was remains open to debate, but it was stretching the bounds of credulity to see both plying their trade at Ewood Park.
And Salgado, who played alongside Beckham at Real Madrid and against Ronaldinho when the Brazilian was at Barcelona, said it would have been the wrong move for Blackburn to lavish millions on two marquee signings.
“I know Beckham and Ronaldinho are big names for Blackburn,” said Salgado.
“But I don’t think someone like Beckham coming here for three months is the best thing for him or Blackburn. We would prefer three or four club players with good experience.
“Maybe not top-class, but ones who would be really good for this club in the future.
“The most important thing is that we already have good youngsters here, like Junior Hoilett and Martin Olsson. They are the players for the future of Blackburn.
“So maybe instead we need three or four players with experience, with quality rather than signing Beckham or Ronaldinho.
“Also, maybe Ronaldinho wouldn’t be in the mood to play here in England, with the weather and those things.
“He would be a big name for us, but on the pitch I would prefer a good team, playing well and getting results.”
Salgado also said Beckham’s propsoed move to Tottenham made more sense for the former Manchester United star and for Harry Redknapp’s progressive side than a switch back to the north west with Rovers.
“David is my friend and if he had come here it would have been great for us,” said Salgado. “But it’s better to sign a player for a while.
“If you could mix everything it would be perfect. If you could sign Ronaldinho and then sign three good team or squad players, it would be a great mix for us.
“It’s great the name of Blackburn is now known around the world, but I don’t think you would have enough money to do that.
“The best thing is to keep the important players we have. After that, if it’s possible to sign a top name then great, but we have to sign three new faces to build something important.”
Blackburn continued their impressive run under new boss Steve Kean, building on their 3-1 win over Liverpool last week, with a deserved victory over Neil Warnock’s Championship leaders.
Axed Rovers boss Sam Allardyce claimed his former no.2 at Ewood Park, Neil McDonald, was a better candidate to succeed him than Kean, but the former first-team coach has made an impressive transition to his new role.
QPR attacker Jamie Mackie was left with a double-leg fracture after a first-half challenge with Gael Givet, which saw both players leave the field on stretchers.
El Hadji Diouf’s decision to berate the stricken Mackie as he lay on the turf enraged QPR boss Warnock, who branded the controversial Blackburn forward a “sewer rat” and “the lowest of the low”.
Hoilett was the match-winner, applying an assured finish to Diouf’s pass 13 minutes from time to send Rovers into the fourth round draw.
Rangers hit the bar either side of Hoilett’s winner, through Petter Vaagen Moen and defender Kaspars Gorkss, but were unable to make the breakthrough.
JUNIOR Hoilett scored his first goal of the season to send Blackburn Rovers into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The Canadian’s 77th minute strike was enough to see off the physical Championship leaders QPR at Ewood Park.
Rovers were on top for most of the first half, with Junior Hoilett looking dangerous on the right and Mame Biram Diouf a constant threat in attack.
The Senegalese striker went close twice in the first five minutes, first dragging a shot wide and then having a strike well held by goalkeeper Paddy Kenny.
Ryan Nelsen then sent a free header wide of Kenny’s goal, before Mame Diouf’s header was brilliantly tipped over by the visitor’s goalkeeper.
The game was held up after a tackle by Jamie Mackie on Gale Givet left both players in agony and ultimately stretchered off.
The closest the visitors came was a run and shot by Mackie which was well cleared by Grant Hanley.
El-Hadji Diouf then fired over after more good work from Pedersen as a promising opening 25 minutes faded into a poor end to the half.
Mark Bunn kept Rovers level in the dying seconds when he touched Peter Moen’s rasping 25-yard drive onto the cross bar.
The second half started as the first ended with neither side able to create too many clear-cut chances.
Mame Diouf should have put Rovers ahead though just past the hour mark but his control let him down after Pedersen’s free-kick picked him out unmarked just yards from goal.
Rovers continued to dominate possession, with Hoilett looking a danger but too often the final ball let the hosts down.
Hoilett finally made Rovers’ pressure tell on 77 minutes when he collected the ball from El-hadji Diouf on the edge of the penalty area and fired low into the corner.
Kaspars Gorkss headed against the bar for the visitors late on but Rovers were worthy of their victory.
BLACKBURN Rovers have given up their chase for AC Milan’s Ronaldinho after conceding the Brazilian is heading home.
Boss Steve Kean revealed yesterday he had been given new hope of bringing the forward to East Lancashire but, after today’s FA Cup win over QPR, he admitted they had now lost out.
Ronaldinho is now expected to sign for Flamengo although fellow Brazilian clubs Gremio and Palmeiras are also interested.
Kean said: “That is dead in the water. It looks like he is going to back to Brazil.
“We followed it right through as much as we could. At first we looked on the back foot, then it came alive, now it looks finished.”
Junior Hoilett’s 77th minute strike was enough to secure Rovers’ progression into the FA Cup fourth round with a 1-0 home win over QPR.
Kean said: “We felt as though it could have been one of those games when you get so many chances and each time you miss, the other side gets more confidence and you hope the other side won’t nick a goal.
“Fortunately enough Junior Hoilett popped up with a good goal. We tried to change the shape of the team a bit with Junior behind the strikers in the second half and I thought that worked quite well.
“The FA Cup is a priority for us. We tried to keep the momentum going from the LIverpool game.
“Some of the lads looked a little tired, because we don’t have many players to rotate at the moment, but for the Chelsea game we will have some recovery days to get people ready.
“We wanted to avoid the replay because we want to keep the games to the minimum.”
BLACKBURN Rovers have launched a last-ditch attempt to rescue their Ronaldinho hopes – but insist their pursuit of the Brazilian will not affect their other transfer targets.
Rovers were set to make their first official bid for the forward to his club AC Milan either late yesterday or today after being given faint hope by his representatives that a return to Brazil was not yet a formality.
At the time of going press, sources in Brazil still expected the 30-year-old to sign for Gremio imminently, with club vice president Vicente Martins declaring himself ‘optimistic’, with Rovers expected to lose out.
Ahead of today’s FA Cup third round visit of QPR, boss Kean was prepared to give it one last go to land him but insisted, if it continued to stall, he would not hesitate in ending his interest.
Having also ruled out the possibility of bringing David Beckham to Ewood Park, Kean admitted failure to sign Ronaldinho would be the end of their search for a big-name signing this month – although they would look again in the summer.
He also admitted his search for other January signings has so far been frustrated, with no bids yet made, but was hopeful progress could be made early next week.
He said: “The information we got back from the agency that looks after him was that he would consider the UK. It seemed to be slipping away – but you can only react to that information.
“His representatives saying he’d think about a move to the UK was something we took as a positive. If he will consider the UK then we’d probably be the only club that would like to speak to him.
“I don’t know if he would go anywhere, but we can only react to it and see if we can take it to the next stage. Now is the time we need to contact Milan. If it’s going to move forward we need to contact them Friday or Saturday.
“We’d have to agree a fee with Milan. If the fee is too much and beyond us, it would fall down at this stage “We have to say to him ‘would you be interested in speaking to us here’ and if he would that moves it another step forward. If we can get a commitment to come and talk to us then that would progress it.
“If that stalls or delays and slips away then it is something we would probably leave and move on to someone else.
“If we don’t get him I don’t think there’d be another marquee signing. We’d go about trying to strengthen the squad and look again in the summer.”
Kean confirmed he was interested in bringing Roque Santa Cruz back to Rovers on a loan deal but Manchester City are still understood to be holding out for a permanent sale.
Rovers are also believed to be have been rebuffed in an initial approach for Fulham midfielder Damien Duff but are not expected to give up their chase, with the player understood to be keen on a switch.
While unwilling to discuss individual targets, Kean said: “No bids have gone in yet but I would say Monday or Tuesday next week there will be bids going in. That is the second process, first you need to work out if the players are available and would he like to come to the club.
“At this time there has been a lot of resistance at the first stage, we enquire about a player and we are told he is not available, so then you move on to someone else. You have to go about the process in the right way.
“The rest of the transfers are ongoing though. What happens with Ronaldinho won’t affect any of the other business we are doing.”
Meanwhile Kean will unveil a new assistant manager on Monday.
NEIL WARNOCK has launched an astonishing personal attack on El-Hadji Diouf.
The QPR boss was furious with Rovers Diouf after accusing him of abusing Jamie Mackie while the striker lay in agony with a broken leg.
Mackie had collided with Blackburn’s Gael Givet in a challenge which saw both players carried off.
And the Rangers boss raged: “The lads were furious with El-Hadji Diouf. Mackie had broken his leg and he is calling him all sorts on the pitch.
“There was no need to put the finger up and call him a disgrace and even the Blackburn people were embarrassed.
“I can’t abide people like that, I don’t know why he wants to take on the world every week.”
Warnock, who saw his side lose 1-0, added: “For many years I have thought Diouf was the gutter type – I was going to call him a sewer rat but that might be insulting to sewer rats.
“I think he is the lowest of the low and I can’t see him being at Blackburn much longer because I can’t see Steve Kean putting up with someone like that in the dressing room when he is trying to form a new image for Blackburn.
“I think he will be the first to go and good riddance – I hope he goes abroad because I won’t miss watching him. He is a nasty little person.”