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Rovers Bottom After Defeat

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Two Second half goals, the first a Frank Lampard penalty, the second a late Didier Drogba strike were enough to give the defending Champions Chelsea a 2-0 win at Ewood Park, and see Rovers slump to bottom place in the Premiership.

Andre Ooijer`s grappling with John Terry would see Chelsea awarded a penalty, Frank Lampard converted from the spot early in the second half. Ooijer was again at fault for the Chelsea second. After being out powered by substitute Didier Drogba, the Ivorian lashed past Brad Friedel to secure all three points.

This will be a game and debut Andre Ooijer will quickly wish to forget, it started badly and only really got worse. Hopefully things can only get better for him and Rovers. On the plus side Brett Emerton and David Bentley combined superbly well down the right hand side, with both frequently spraying quality passes across the pitch, with Bentley sending in a couple of fantastic crosses.

1st Half
Andre Ooijer`s first contribution in a Rovers shirt would be to win the ball, give it away again and then commit a foul. From the resulting free kick the ball eventually found its way to Michael Essien who shot over from twenty yards.

A shaky start to Ooijer`s Rovers career would see a back pass barely reaching Brad Friedel before Solomon Kalou could intercept.

David Bentley`s cross from a quickly taken Robbie Savage free kick found the Head of Morten Gamst Pedersen, but with Rovers first effort of the match his header failed to trouble the returning Petr Cech.

A fine Steven Reid pass would pick out Bentley whose quick feet would win a free kick. From the kick Pedersen`s well hit free kick would deflect off Kalou and just over for a corner.

Savage picked up his first booking of the season, having previously been warned, following a foul on Essien, and in the next phase of play Andre Shevchenko`s effort would go wildly high and wide.

As the half time whistle approached Bentley`s fantastic defence splitting cross only just failed to find the head of Jason Roberts who was arriving at the back post for what would have been a fine goal.

Half Time:
Rovers 0 Chelsea 0

Goals:
Rovers –
Chelsea –

2nd Half
Ooijer`s debut didn`t get much better in the second half as he gave away a penalty minutes into the second half after pulling John Terry to the ground. Despite getting a hand to Frank Lampard`s spot kick Friedel couldn`t keep it out. Rovers 0 Chelsea 1.

Looking far from convincing only minutes later Ooijer would attempt to leave a ball for Friedel, almost letting Chelsea in again. And yet more uncertainty at the back, this time from Zurab Khizinashvilli as he attempted the same as the ball bounced in the penalty area almost saw Kalou get in.

Benni McCarthy`s first notable contribution would force Cech into a fine save, after he had brought down a great cross field pass on his chest.

Rovers Substitution: 69 mins Morten Gamst Pedersen (Off) Paul Gallagher (On)

Rovers were unlucky not to have been rewarded a penalty of their own when Carvalho pulled Roberts back by his shirt more than once in the same passage of play. Shortly after a dangerous Savage free kick forced Cech into palming it away for a corner, from which Ooijer saw his header go over the bar.

Lucas Neill, captain for the day, saw a good twenty yard strike narrowly miss the target as the game entered its final fifteen minutes.

The match was over on 80 minutes as Didier Drogba out paced, and out powered Ooijer following a good Chelsea move to beat Friedel with a powerful shot. Rovers 0 Chelsea 2.

Reid`s thirty yard free kick would again need to be dealt with by Cech, the Czech International number one turning away the strike for a corner.

Full Time:
Rovers 0 Chelsea 2

Goals:
Rovers –
Chelsea – Frank Lampard 49 (pen), Didier Drogba 80

Teams:
Rovers
– Friedel, Emerton, Khizanishvili, Ooijer, Neill, Bentley, Savage, Reid, Pedersen (Gallagher 69 mins), McCarthy, Roberts. Unused Subs: Brown, Todd, Kuqi, Jeffers.

Chelsea – Cech, Boulahrouz, Carvalho, Terry, Bridge, Makelele (Mikel 88 mins), Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Kalou (Drogba 56 mins), Shevchenko (Wright-Phillips 82 mins). Unused Subs: Cudicini, Ferreira.

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