Sheff Weds v Blackburn 19/10/96 3.00Sheff Weds (1) 1 Blackburn (0) 1 FT Booth 3 Bohinen 74 Ray Harford at last found the inspiration he had been praying for as Norwegian midfielder Lars Bohinen came off the bench to rescue Blackburn with a priceless strike. Bottom of the table Rovers looked dead and buried as they trailed Andy Booth's early strike for Sheffield Wednesday, with the home side in seemingly total command against a team that arrived at Hillsborough without a win in their previous nine Premiership matches. But Harford's last throw of the dice saw him bring on Bohinen with 16 minutes remaining and the former Nottingham Forest man made the gamble pay off by blasting an immediate equaliser within seconds of entering the fray, his second goal of the season. It left the Blackburn boss a much relieved man. Harford admitted after last week's 2-0 loss to Arsenal that he was thinking about quitting the club, five years after entering Ewood with the Kenny Dalglish revolution. 
But this could just be the break he declared Rovers needed. They were hardly worth a point against a Wednesday side that gave a debut to the £3million club record signing Benito Carbone and should have claimed their first win in six League outings. Blackburn welcomed back defender Ian Pearce, midfielder Garry Flitcroft and striker Kevin Gallacher, but any hope Harford had that a change of personnel would immediately turn the tide were looking bleak in only the third minute. David Hirst galloped unopposed down the right and whipped in a low cross, and the Blackburn defence was nowhere to be seen as Booth stole in to fire past Tim Flowers. It was the striker's fifth goal for the Hillsborough club since he made the £2.4million switch from Huddersfield in the summer. Wednesday, looking for a return to form after a miserable run that had made their four-victory start to the campaign a distant memory, were full of ideas in the opening stages and Regi Blinker was causing Blackburn countless problems down the left. Two crosses in quick succession by the dreadlocked Dutchman saw Henning Berg deny Hirst with a header at full stretch before Carbone volleyed a far post chance into the turf and wide. Hirst should have doubled the home side's advantage midway through the half, but his right-footed shot flashed inches wide after Booth had robbed Berg to free his front-line partner. 
At the other end, Kevin Pressman's goal rarely came under threat as Rovers once again failed to produce the firepower that Alan Shearer provided in three memorable years at Ewood. To be fair to Gallacher and Chris Sutton, there was a distinct lack of opportunity being provided from other areas, and Pressman's only action in the first period was a regulation save to gather a weak effort by Stuart Ripley. Wednesday seemed to sense that the dispirited visitors were there for the taking and immediately began the second half by going in search of more goals to make the game safe. Booth was inches away from converting Hyde's volley across goal at the far post, and then Flowers made a superb stop to keep out Hyde's powerful header as the diminutive midfielder met Blinker's corner. But Booth should have wrapped up the points just after the hour when a neat exchange between Carbone and Blinker sent him clear only for the striker to ram his shot off the legs of Flowers. There still seemed no way back for Rovers and Harford sent on Georgios Donis to pep up his out-of-sorts attack. The Greek winger certainly added pace to the Rovers front-line, but Wednesday were well in command before Bohinen's dramatic arrival. The Norwegian came on for Jason Wilcox, the tiring Carbone making way to thunderous applause for Ritchie Humphries at the same time. 
But it was the Norwegian who had the immediate impact. Sherwood, fed by Croft, slammed a volley against Pressman's left-hand post and, before the Wednesday keeper could recover, Bohinen slammed the rebound in off the opposite post from 12 yards with an unerring drive. Wednesday replied with Booth's strike bringing another fine save from Flowers, but Rovers themselves were beginning to grow in confidence and their fans in the 22,191 crowd began to chant, ``We're going to win the League!'' Gallacher saw the ball whipped off his toes by Peter Atherton as a Donis cross caused confusion in a packed Wednesday penalty area, with David Pleat's side beginning to wilt alarmingly. But both sides looked grateful for a share of the spoils as the contest petered out, although Harford will be hoping that there will be plenty more to come as Blackburn attempt to climb out of their early season hole. 
Sheff Weds: Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Newsome, Walker, Carbone (Humphreys, 72), Hirst (Whittingham, 88), Booth, Blinker, Hyde, Trustfull (Pembridge, 77). Subs not used: Clarke, Nicol. Booked: Trustfull. Blackburn: Flowers, Kenna, Sherwood, Ripley (Donis, 61), Gallacher, Wilcox (Bohinen, 72), Sutton, Berg, Flitcroft, Pearce, Croft. Subs not used: Marker, Given, McKinlay. Attendance: 22,191. Referee: P S Danson (Leicester). |
