Blackburn Rovers moved up to seventh in the table after a hard earned victory over West Bromwich Albion. Steve Kean’s men took the lead just before half time when Gabriel Tamas headed past his own keeper. Within two minutes of the restart David Hoilett had doubled Rovers lead with an unstoppable strike which flew past the keeper and into the roof of the net.

West Bromwich Albion would travel to Blackburn on Sunday knowing that they had not won there in twenty years, perhaps to compound that misery the Baggies were relegated that season.

As if the omens were not bad enough for West Brom inexperienced Rovers manager Steve Kean got his first win as Blackburn boss against them back in December.  This was largely down to some woeful defending by the hosts and it resulted in a 3-1 defeat at the Hawthorns.

Roberto Di Matteo’s men managed to stop the rot by beating Blackpool last week and he would be hoping to make it two consecutive wins on Sunday.

And Nigerian forward Peter Odemwngie nearly gave the visitors the perfect start after latching on to some sloppy play by Pedersen on 30 seconds, stinging the palms of Paul Robinson from a half volley just outside the box.

Blackburn Rovers always a threat from set pieces replied with a flurry of Pedersen corners and free kicks but the Baggies defence remained defiant as Steve Kean’s men tried to find a way through.

Jerome Thomas was next to test Robinson on 12 minutes when chipped a ball into the six yard box. Paul Scharner nicked in front of the keeper to prod it back to the winger, who then from a tight angle tried to squeeze it past the Blackburn No 1 but it deflected off his legs and went out for a corner.

Blackburn were starting to impose their authority on the match and had a very good spell of play just before the half hour mark. A series of long throws into the box were causing havoc. In one instance the ball fell kindly firstly for Olsson who drove a low hard shot straight at Boaz Myhill who looked to be unsighted and then Christopher Samba was next to test the keeper with a low curling shot which the American had to be quick to react to.

Samba clearly had an eye for goal as he was involved again on 34 minutes. David Dunn slid a pass into the feet of Santa Cruz. The Paraguayan fed the ball into Samba’s path and he drilled another shot which was only inches wide of Myhill’s right hand post.

But West Brom could have had the lead only a few minutes later. Chris Brunt floated a lovely diagonal ball onto Thomas who left Michel Salgado for dead before hitting the ball towards goal which had Robinson worried. The resulting corner saw a speculative effort from Brunt when the corner eventually came to him 25 yards out before unleashing a volley which went over the bar.

However it was to be the hosts that would take the lead in bizarre fashion on 40 minutes. David Dunn whipped a ball in but for all of Blackburn’s threat in the air; it would be Gabriel Tamas- the Baggies centre back- to knock it past his own keeper. The Romanian found himself in an awkward position and never recovered- a cruel blow to visitors who might have felt aggrieved to be behind.

Blackburn took heart from this and Santa Cruz returning to his former club had Myhill making a smart save to his left – the American goal keeper taking advantage of his recent run in the first team and keeping the deficit to a minimum as his team went in only 1-0 down at half time.

It was to be short lived though as less than two minutes into the second half Blackburn would extend their lead with a fantastic strike from David Hoilett. The Canadian found himself on the left hand side. Nikola Kalinic chested the ball down to him and the midfielder cut inside and hit thunderous drive giving Myhill no chance.

West Brom nearly responded minutes later.  Thomas was a thorn in the Blackburn defence all game and the Englishman twisted and turned Salgado before moving onto his right foot and the struck the ball with venom which forced Robinson into a great save.

However the Spaniard Salgado was close to making it 3-0 but his half volley was saved well by the West Brom keeper. David Dunn slid through Santa Cruz as Blackburn threatened to wrap up the points around the hour mark but the Paraguayan lacks match sharpness and his slide rule pass to team mate Kalinic never looked on and the Baggies would survive once more.

Everything good for West Brom centred around Thomas his directness at goal was giving the Blackburn defence problems but whenever he did get past the rearguard Robinson was there to provide cover.

West Brom should have had a penalty on 67 minutes but the referee Mark Clattenburg adjudged the foul to be outside the box the resulting free kick from Chris Brunt hit the wall.

Blackburn nearly got a third right on full time after some lovely work by Martin olsson his shot was parried by Myhill it fell to Jason Roberts but he was unable to convert. Santa Cruz also had an opportunity right at the end to mark his comeback with a goal but it went narrowily over.

The hosts managed to take the sting out of the match playing out the last few minutes with relative comfort this result means Rovers climb up five places in the table. But for the Baggies it is another defeat bringing them ever closer to the relegation battle. [craig turnbull/goal]