Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Stoke City: Hosts seal a point against 10-man Potters
- Published
John Buckley's (centre) equaliser for Blackburn Rovers was the 21-year-old's first goal of the season
Blackburn Rovers came from behind to salvage a point against 10-man Stoke City, who missed the chance to edge closer to the Championship play-off places.
The visitors led at the break, courtesy of Nick Powell's header from Jordan Thompson's cross into the box.
Rovers equalised in the second half when John Buckley tapped in following good work from Harvey Elliott to keep the ball alive.
James Chester was sent off for Stoke soon after for bringing down Adam Armstrong, who was through on goal, but Rovers could not conjure up a winner.
The result means Stoke remain eighth, four points off sixth place, while Blackburn stay 11th, three points behind the Potters.
In the second half, Blackburn's pursuit of Stoke's lead suffered a blow when they lost striker Sam Gallagher to injury on the hour mark.
Rovers went into the match with an unenviable record against Stoke, having failed to score in eight of their 12 previous league meetings.
It took until the final 20 minutes of the game for them to force their first chance as Armstrong was denied by Stoke goalkeeper Josef Bursik but Buckley's leveller came just moments later.
Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"We played against a good team. We are disappointed with the nature of the goal we lost. We didn't look we could score for 70 minutes, I think we needed more energy in the team.
"The team was off its intensity levels that we normally play at today. We huffed and puffed and we got a goal.
"We didn't really look like we were going to get the winner. I could have made five changes at half time and I was seriously thinking about it but in hindsight it was easier to do them in stages."
Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Stoke:
"I've not seen the incident (red card) back, I think the two players kind of arrived at the same time. I thought it was a little bit harsh to be honest but the referee has given it and obviously we had to see the game out with 10 men which we did.
"I thought up until then we had played really, really well, first half especially. We should have been more than the one goal ahead at half time.
"The pitch was really difficult for the players as well but I thought some of our play was excellent. It affected both teams, Blackburn are a passing team. At this stage of the season you have to expect pitches maybe aren't going to be as pristine as our own one."
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