Blackburn Rovers made it back to back wins at Ewood with two more goals from Jordan Rhodes, as they pushed neighbors Bolton down to the bottom o the Championship.
After last weekends 5-2 win over Barnsley, the first of the seasons derby games saw Bolton come to Ewood looking fro their first win this term. Rovers picked up where hey left off last week when David Dunn claimed his first goal of the campaign in the 25th minute followed a minute later by the first of two for Jordan Rhodes. They should have added a third but instead it was the visitors who struck next just ahead of the break, Alex Babtiste beating Jake Kean from close range. At 2-1 the game was very much in the balance and Bolton tried to build on their goal after the restart. But it was put beyond them when sub - new boy - Corry Evans scored his first for Rovers with a 'Tugay-esk' long range shot. The final goal came from Rhodes in the final few minutes. The result moved Rovers up to 11th and sent Bolton down to the bottom of the League still looking for their first win. Gary Bowyers was rightly happy when he talked to RADIO ROVERS saying: "We've got to be delighted with the level of performance and the goals scored, but what was important was that we followed up last week's win with another one. I thought we were absolutely fantastic today in terms of how we went about it with the ball. Then you saw the energy that this young team bring into it in terms of their pressing. We'll debrief today's game, then we've got the international break, which we could have done without. We get through that and then we start focusing on the Burnley game."
With the transfer window due to close next week the Manager told BBC Sport: "Jordan Rhodes is very important to us. He proved again what a quality finisher he is. It is not just his goals but also his work rate. When I first took the job I asked the owners about Jordan Rhodes and they said he was not for sale. As soon as 23:00 BST comes on Monday you will have to talk about something else. He is better than a £10m player for me. He is a goalscorer." (31st August 2013)

Rovers turn over 10 man Barnsley and collect first season win !

Gary Bowyer hoped to find his first win of the season at home to Barnsley, but he probably hadn't hoped for a conclusive 5-2 result and the best display of the campaign. Despite dominating play from the start, Chris Dagnall put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute. But their lead didn't last long after Jean-Yves M'Voto saw RED and Tom Cairney scored from the resulting free kick. Next up Jordan Rhodes claimed two in ten minutes, and before the break Joshua King had made it an impressive 4-1. Total control of the game was tough to continue after the break, but Todd Kane added Rovers 5th ten minutes in. Barnsley found a second consolation goal through sub Tomasz Cywka.
Gary Bowyer was rightly delighted and told RADIO ROVERS:- "I hope the fans enjoyed that! We are working very hard and we are trying to bring in one or two that will add to that team. It is going to be a long process, it is going to take time this season and we'll just go game by game. I'm glad that they've gone home with a smile on their face today."
The win moved Rovers up to 15th with Bolton up next at Ewood next Saturday (30th August 2013)
RADIO ROVERS listeners also heard a moving 'live' interview with Morten Gamst Pedersen in the post match programme. The player had already come out to say thank you to the fans after the final whistle after being given the chance to leave the club 'on a free'. He told listeners how much he'd loved his time at Ewood - and IF he does leave - that he'd certainly be coming back in the future. (24th August 2013)

Still no win for Blackburn on a bad night at Doncaster

Gary Bowyer has problems that he didn't seem to have last season - leaking goals and not scoring any. For the first time in half a century Blackburn met newly promoted Doncaster Rovers in the same division, and found them in fine form. Their new boy Theo Robinson gave the home side the lead after half an hour, and James Husband doubled it just before the hour. Jake Kean seemed to lack confidence and the visitors were found wanting in defense. Their only away win in 2013 came at Millwall - and tonight they managed just one shot on target. They'll be back home on Bank Holiday weekend when they meet another Yorkshire, side Barnsley, ahead of the first derby of the season with the visit of Bolton to end August. Point and goals are needed .. and Team GB need to find both very quickly. (16th August 2013)

Late Late show from Forest - spoils first home game

It was over a minute into injury time that Jake Kean spilled the ball and Darius Henderson stole all the points for Forest. Rovers had looked likely to collect a draw from a game with few chances fro either side - just a couple on target for either side. Certainly it looked like some creative play from Alan Judge and Leon Best might have more success, and on the balance of play in the second half, Rovers had looked the more likely side to steal it. But in the end it was a defensive error that handed the once change the visitors needed to claim the spoils, and spoil the opening day for Manager Gary Bowyer. He told reporters:- "It wasn't a classic of a game but I thought we showed fighting qualities and we pushed Forest as close as we possibly could. In my opinion, they're one of the favourites with the manager they've got and the money they've got, so we've got some positives to take.We haven't played as well as we can." So Blackburn have one point from their opening two games, and Friday night away at Doncaster next looking for their first win of the season. (10th August 2013)

It took extra time and penalties - but still Rovers were unable yo make Round 2 of this years Capital One Cup . The League One side took the lead after 14 minutes and despite plenty of possession and chances it took till the second half for Rovers to draw level. Tom Cairney scored his first for Rovers in the 52nd and just 4 minutes later Rovers had the lead through Chris Taylor. Another 5 minutes and it was the home side back level, and so at 90 minutes at 2-2 it was extra time. Alan Judge gave the visitors the advantage in the first period after just 4 minutes - but Rovers couldn't hold on and David Amoo claimed his second with 6 minutes left, 3-3, to force the game into penalties. And despite pulling ahead in the shoot out - and with the tie all square again at 3-3 Josh Morris missed his spot kick and David Symington gave Carlisle a 4-3 win to make Round two.
A frustrating but exciting night for neutral observers and with 8 changes from boss Gary Bowyer, plenty of youngsters got their first chance to play first team football this season. Like last year it was the shortest of cup runs - but the first League game at Ewood comes up on Saturday - so little time to get over the upset and hope for all 3 points. (7th August 2013)

LINKS: rovers.co.uk (full report) AND bbc.co.uk (all the stats) PLUS leaguecup1314

Leon Best claims first goal for Rovers in opening game

Blackburn Rovers opened their 2013-14 campaign at Pride Park with a late equaliser from Leon Best securing a well deserved draw. And it was Rovers who'd provided much of the first half pressure, with Ruben Rochina a constant threat along with Jordan Rhodes and Alan Judge. But Rochina was stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder, and with only minutes of the half left to play Johnny Russell claimed the opener from the penalty spot. Rovers looked calm and determined after the break - but it took till the 89th minutes for substitute Best to claim his first ever Rovers goal having spent most o last season recovering from a pre-season injury.
The Derby Manager Nigel Clough told the BBC: "We did not intend to sit back, it is just that Blackburn played very well on the day. We had enough chances in the second half to get the second goal but overall a draw was probably fair." Meanwhile Rovers Manager Gary Bowyer told the clubs official website:- "We should have got three points. We were that good today. I thought we started very very well but unfortunately the injury to Rochina just rocked us a little bit. But overall if you look at what we've done, we've hit the bar, we've hit the post, we've had chances cleared off the line and we've played the better football against a team that only lost three at home all last season in the Championship."
The next Championship game is the first at home this season on Saturday next against Nottingham Forest, but before that they travel to Carlisle in the first round of the League Cup on Wednesday evening. (4th August 2013)