Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Wigan Athletic: Bradley Dack taken off on stretcher in stalemate
- Published
Bradley Dack has scored 42 goals in 106 league games since joining Blackburn in 2017
Blackburn lost top scorer Bradley Dack to what appeared to be a serious knee injury as Wigan moved off the foot of the Championship with a goalless draw at Ewood Park.
Dack, who has scored nine league goals for Rovers this season, had to be taken off on a stretcher after going down clutching his knee on the touchline midway through the second half.
Rovers could have snatched all three points soon after as Danny Graham's header hit the bar, but the draw extended their unbeaten run to seven games and moved them up two places to eighth.
Both sides created countless chances to win it in a thrilling late finale but Rovers stopper Christian Walton and his Wigan counterpart Jamie Jones each made several fine saves to keep the score blank.
Walton, who spent the past two seasons on loan at Wigan from Brighton before making the temporary switch to Blackburn in the summer, made superb stops from Sam Morsy's curler and Cedric Kipre's point-blank header.
Jones, who had vied with Walton for Wigan's number one shirt for much of the past two years, was not to be outdone, thwarting Joe Rothwell, Darragh Lenihan and Lewis Holtby as Rovers ended strongly.
Arguably the best chance of an end-to-end final few minutes fell to Wigan's Jamal Lowe but he nodded Josh Windass' cross wide from inside the six-yard box.
The lively Lowe had also fizzed inches wide from distance earlier as the Latics, whose winless run stretched to 11 games, came close to a first away win of the season that would have moved them out of the bottom three.
They did keep a first clean sheet in 33 matches to move above Stoke and into 23rd, although that owed somewhat to the woodwork as Graham's header from Holtby's cross came back off the bar with Jones beaten.
But Rovers were well below their best and could well be without the services of leading marksman Dack for some time, given the agony he was in when the injury occurred.
Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"This league is there for everyone to see. Teams at either end of the league can give you problems.
"Wigan are a good side, I don't see them being in the bottom three at the end of the season.
"They gave us a lot of problems, particularly in the first half. That showed their quality. That said I think we played well and their keeper made some amazing saves."
On Bradley Dack's injury: "I won't say what it might be or what it is. Let's see what a proper diagnosis or scan shows but at this moment it doesn't look good."
Wigan manager Paul Cook:
"I think both sides had moments in the game, for sure. Danny Graham's hit the bar, Jamie (Jones) has made a couple of saves.
"We've had our moments so while you're always disappointed, I think there's so much positivity around the last three performances, it's untrue.
"We look anything but a team that hasn't won and lacking in confidence. Unfortunately, we're not getting those wins that you need, but there's a long way to go in the season.
"I don't think many people gave us much of a chance here tonight. To come and play the way we did, the players can be quite proud of their performance."