Nice Finish! Rovers get MyPa
2nd qualifying round of the Uefa Cup
The UEFA Cup draw was made at lunchtime on Friday and Rovers have a long trip up to Finland to play 'MyPa-47'.
The away leg will be on Thursday August 16th, with return to Ewood on Thursday 30th August. According to the official Rovers website, MyPa reached this stage after a 2-1 aggregate victory over EB/Streymur of the Faroe Islands. They are based at Anjalankoski, which is North East of the capital Helsinki.

Rovers chief executive Tom Finn told reporters that MyPa would be treated with every respect. "We're not taking anything for granted, that would be unprofessional. We'll treat them with respect, but clearly we'll be looking to progress. 606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on the draw We'll take it one step at a time, but our run last year has given us a seeding which gives us a better chance of progressing. Credit to Mark who wanted to use the Intertoto Cup and now we want to join the other English clubs in the first round proper." (2nd August 2007)

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THE FULL DRAW
Uefa Cup, second qualifying round draw: Otelul Galati (Romania) v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria) CFR Cluj (Romania) v Anorthosis (Cyprus) Rabotnicki (Macedonia) v Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)/Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia) * Slaven (Croatia) v Galatasaray (Turkey) Uniao Leiria (Portugal) v Maccabi Netanya (Israel) Hajduk Split (Croatia) v Sampdoria (Italy) Besa Kavaje (Albania) v Litex Lovech (Bulgaria) Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) v Kayserispor (Turkey) Atletico Madrid (Spain) v Vojvodina (Serbia) Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia) v Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) Basel (Switzerland) v Mattersburg (Austria) Ried (Austria) v FC Sion (Switzerland) MIKA (Armenia) v Artmedia (Slovakia) Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) v Belchatow (Poland) Honved (Hungary) v Hamburg SV (Germany) Young Boys (Switzerland) v Racing Lens (France) Tobol Kostanai (Kazakhstan) v Groclin (Poland) Austria Vienna (Austria) v Jablonc (Czech Republic) Zlate Moravce (Slovakia) v Zenit St Petersburg (Russia) Rapid Vienna (Austria) v Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) MyPa Myllykoski (Finland) v Blackburn Rovers Drogheda United (Ireland) v Helsingborg (Sweden) Metalurgs (Latvia) v AIK (Sweden) HJK Helsinki (Finland) v AaB Aalborg (Denmark) Ekranas (Lithuania) v Valerenga (Norway) Dunfermline Athletic (Scotland) v Haecken (Sweden) Brann Bergen (Norway) v Suduva (Lithuania) Haka Valkeakoski (Finland) v Midtjylland (Denmark) Dinamo Minsk (Belarus) v Odense (Denmark) Kaerjeng (Luxembourg) v Standard Liege (Belgium) Fredrikstad FK (Norway) v Hammarby (Sweden)

Bentley & Roberts take Rovers into the first round proper
Blackburn Rovers 2 - 0 MyPa-47 [UEFA Cup Leg 2- Round 2]
It should and would have been more - but the MyPa keeper, Korhonen, played a blinder and seemed to be ready for all Rovers attempts. At the other end Brad Friedel had little to do, and the Finish visitors provided little threat on the night. For Jason Roberts, it was a frustrating first half, he could have put Rovers ahead early on missing from close range and then he was twice denied by MyPa's Janne Korhonen. But just two minutes after the break, David Bentley beat the keeper to claim Rovers first on the night and snuff out any hope MyPa had. The chances continued to come, but it was in the 91st minute that Jason Roberts tapped in the second to see Rovers home 3-0 on aggregate. Mark Hughes gave Maceo Rigters a chance to start, and there was no McCarthy in the 18 while Santa Cruz, Khizanishvili, Gallagher, Dunn, Derbyshire and Olsson all had to settle for the bench. Only Derbs and new youngster Olsson had a chance to play for the final 15 minutes.
The Manager told RADIO ROVERS "The job was done, the goal from David, a great goal that it was, basically finished the game from MyPa's point of view and we're delighted that we're through. On first half chances we created a number of decent opportunities and maybe on another day they would have gone in. But I always felt it was only a matter before the first one went in. I felt once the first one went in there would be more to come, but as it was we had to wait until the last minute. But as I said, the tie was never in doubt and we're delighted that we are in the first round proper, we are in the hat tomorrow and we'll be looking on with interest." (30th August 2007)

Greek Tragedy - Don't ask!
Larissa 2 - 0 Blackburn Rovers
They say - don't trust Greeks bearing gifts - well former Rovers Georgios Donis had told Blackburn fans not to fear his side. And he must have been as surprised as the rest of us to watch such a poor away performance from his old outfit. Rovers never really got going and everyone was silenced when the home side scored the first strike with a terrific long range Ibrahim Bakayoko shot that took a deflection before passing Friedel.
Then before they could even regroup Larissa had their second! It all went wrong at the back, and Cleyton slotting past Brad And that's the long and short of it - the Greek side could have scored more - Rovers probably couldn't. To add to the sadness of the trip, Captain Ryan Nelsen suffered a hamstring injury, and could now miss the next month. Mark Hughes said: "It is the hamstring that he had the operation on - we think it is just a bit of scar tissue. We hope it's not serious but he will be out for about three to four weeks."
Of the game - the manager added: "It was not a performance we were expecting, in particular after our excellent run of 15 games unbeaten. Up until now we have shown quality and energy, but they were missing tonight. We have left ourselves a lot to do. I'm sure against Portsmouth on Sunday our performance will be a lot better, but tonight is a mystery to us." (20th September 2007)

Home win not enough - Rovers out of Europe
Blackburn Rovers 2 - 1 Larissa (2-3 agg)
I suppose it's small consolation - but Rovers won at Ewood Park tonight - but that wasn't enough. Going into the second Leg of this UEFA Cup game, they were already 2-0 down to Larissa from the first encounter in Greece. They knew it was as simple as scoring three goals - and conceding none.
Sadly that's where the plan came unstuck. It only took Larissa 16 minutes to ruin things and get themselves an away goal - Cleyton beating Friedel and the defense. From then on it was an uphill struggle - but a penalty awarded to Rovers on the stroke of half time gave them a life line. Matt Derbyshire had his first shot blacked, but their keeper (Kotsolis) was off his line and Derbs had to take it again. This time a goal and the whistle went for the break. The second half was a different game,. Rovers pushing forwards at every opportunity. So it was little surprise when a David Bentley cross gave Stephen Warnock his first goal of the season. 2-1 and ALL to play for - but despite their best efforts - no more goals were forthcoming. So another European adventure comes to an end.

Mark Hughes told RADIO ROVERS: "Larissa are a decent side, they have pace in good areas, they were always a threat on the break and it was always difficult to over-commit because of that threat in behind. We just needed, when we threw a few guys forward, for something to break for us and then we could have built some momentum and then possibly do it. But good luck to Larissa, they played well over the two legs, but as I said we gave ourselves too much to do. We always knew we could score at least two goals against them but if we hadn't conceded the poor goal that we did then it could have been all set up for a grandstand finish." (4th October 2007)