Bentley Brace for England (U21)
England 3 - Norway 1
David Bentley came close to repeating his Rovers hat trick (against Man U) at Reading's Madejski Stadium in the England v Norway Under 21 International. England took a first half lead, but Norway equalised just after the break. Then it was the young Rovers star who took centre stage with two excellent finishes (54 and 60 mins) and might have made it three before being substituted. (28th February 2006)
The FA.com

Rovers go top 5 in quest for Europe
Blackburn 1 - Arsenal 0
Mark Hughes told RADIO ROVERS; "It was a fantastic performance from each and every one of them,. They deserve all the plaudits that they'll get. It was a magnificent effort, we were really brave in everything that we did, we stuck to our task and caused them untold problems at the back, they really couldn't cope with it."
22,504 watched Rovers beat the Gunners at Ewood Park in what's becoming an historic season. Despite some early pressure and good possession from the visitors, it was Blackburn who opened the scoring on 18 minutes thanks to a brilliant Bellamy run, and close range tap-in from MGP. Sadly the Norwegian star also picked up an injury as he put the ball away and had to come straight off. Mark Hughes said that Pedersen will now miss International duty, but hopes that the hamstring strain won't be too serious.. Arsenal certainly got close but Rovers looked just as likely to score again, however the 1-0 shoreline was quite enough to raise the roof at full time, and lift Blackburn into their highest place for a few years. In fact you need to go back to the start of the 03-04 season to find Rovers start up in the top six.
Rovers now have 43 points from 27 games played - an leapfrogged Arsenal to claim the 5th place - just 3 points behind Spurs in 4th (Blackburn's next opponents) (25th Februray 2006)
rovers.co.uk (reaction) bbc.co.uk (report) goals 0506 AND Tables and Tally 0506

Bellamy Brace secures all the points - hitting the magical 40 for the season!
Blackburn 2 - Sunderland 0
Rovers got back into winning ways at Ewood Park with a clean sheet and two goals from Craig Bellamy - now on 11 for the season in all competitions. The game also sees Blackburn reach 40 points a full two months earlier than last season and up to 7th - their highest place so far - just 5 points off 4th.. Mark Hughes men came off back to back defeats away from home with the 7th win in 9 at Ewood. It took Craig Bellamy 37 minutes to open the scoring with a close range shot in a game Rovers maintained over 60% of the possession. In the second half a superb long ball from Tugay found sub Sergio Peter (on for Pedersen) who picked out Bellamy just 12 yards out to head home his second (63 mins).
Mark Hughes told RADIO ROVERS "We got the goals and were never really in any danger of losing that game. I thought certainly in the second half we saw the game out with a good professional performance. It was exactly what we needed, three points and up to seventh in the table which is a fantastic achievement up to this point. I think it was as straightforward as you can get this evening."
As a former Newcastle striker - putting one over on Sunderland was NOT lost on the Welshman, and resulted in their 20th defeat in 26 Premiership games. And Bellamy almost completed his hat-trick with a 25-yard shot late on that found the inside of the post. (15th February 2006)
rovers.co.uk (reaction) bbc.co.uk (report) goals 0506 AND Tables and Tally 0506

Ten man Everton take all the points aginst Rovers
Everton 1 - Blackburn 0
It only took ten minutes for an under strength Everton to loose an already stand-in keeper. 22 year old, Ian Turner was adjudged to handle outside his area, and the toffees had to rejig and bring on fourth-choice goalkeeper John Ruddy. It seemed to be set up for Rovers to pick up maximum points and move up to 6th in the table, but the dream never became reality. Predictably former Rover James Beattie headed the home side into the lead on 33 minutes. Annoyingly the goal coming from a very questionable free-kick award - one of many in a game that Blackburn continued to dominate with never less than 60% possession. Ruddy was never truly tested and Mark Hughes must have been frustrated knowing that the start saw Bellmy and Pongolle up front, and only the injured Pedersen missing out.
Hughes was full of praise for Everton, telling rovers.co.uk "All in all, Everton deserved what they got, we didn't deserve to get anything." He continued "Going up against a side who has lost their keeper very early on, down to ten men, they had their fourth choice goalkeeper between the sticks but we never really tested him to be perfectly honest. We had plenty of possession as you'd expect being an extra guy to the good but never at any point did we have a sustained spell of pressure to test them. I have to say that Everton were excellent on the day, they really fought hard for everything that they got and deserved to win." (11th February 2006)
rovers.co.uk (reaction) bbc.co.uk (report) goals 0506 AND Tables and Tally 0506

Into Europe - Intertoto??
IF Rovers fail to finish the season in a European place - Mark Hughes look likely to enrol for the Summers Intertoto Cup as an alternative route. Rovers.co.uk quote the manager as saying "We have had a close look at our itinerary for next season and believe that involvement in the Intertoto Cup would not represent an intrusion. The 2006-07 season is scheduled to start a couple of weeks later than usual due to the World Cup and, if necessary, we would have no problems building the competition into our planning."
Teams need to register their interest by next week, with a place going to the team ending the season highest outside the top six.(11th February 2006)
rovers.co.uk (full details)

Pruned at the Hawthorns
West Brom 2 - Blackburn 0
Rovers got off to the worst possible start when birthday boy Kevin Campbell opened the scoring for the Baggies after just 6 minutes. A disjointed Blackburn seemed to take ages to settle down, and an unchanged side who beat Man Utd on Wednesday seemed to have lost much of their composure. With Rover possession down to just 20% Jonathan Greening added a second for West Brom and the home side had control of the match. Rovers did settle down, and created a few chances before the break, but never really threatened. The second half was much better for the visitors, and subs Emerton, Peter and debutante Pongolle all made an impact, but couldn't find the back of the net.
Mark Hughes told rovers.co.uk " We didn't start the game well, conceded two poor goals from our point of view and never really looked like getting back in the game from that point onwards. We had a lot of the play in the second half but West Brom are fighting for their lives, they had something to protect and they did that very well. We found it very difficult to create any clearcut chances in the second half even though we had the vast majority of the play. We didn't come out and display any urgency in our play, we started sloppily and found ourselves 2-0 down and couldn't get back in the game. "
Rovers dropped to ninth in the table and ended a great unbeaten run in the Premiership.(4th February 2006)
rovers.co.uk (reaction) bbc.co.uk (report) goals 0506 AND Tables and Tally 0506

75 years to do the double!! Hat Trick for Bentley
Blackburn 4 - Manchester United 3
It took half an hour for Rovers and David Bentley to open the scoring at Ewood park ... and that was the first of 3 from the man who signed a three and a half year contract only yesterday. Louis Saha got United back in it within 3 minutes before Bentley scored again 4 minutes later. Wes Brown handled the ball on 45 mins to give away the penalty scored coolly by Lucas Neill making it 3-1 at the break. The second half was a whole other game, David Bentley made it 4-1 ten minutes into the second half to claim the match ball, then United sub Ruud van Nistelrooy scored two to bring his side back in it ... but Rovers held out to claim an HISTORIC victory.
United finished with ten men with Rio Ferdinand send off for a second yellow.
Talking on Radio Rovers Mark Hughes said..the result showed how far Rovers have come over the last year. He was obviously delighted with David Bentleys hat trick. Robbie Savage who was stretchered off near the end of the game was fit enough to tell Radio Rovers how proud he was with the management team at Ewood and the whole squad. He hoped that his injury was only a bruise and a precautionary X Ray would confirm any damage. Savo also hoped that a top four finish was a real possibility.
(1st February 2006)
rovers.co.uk (reaction) bbc.co.uk (report) goals 0506 AND Tables and Tally 0506