Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Norwich City: Dominic Hyam scores rare goal to earn Rovers draw

Blackburn Rovers v Norwich City, EFL Sky Bet Championship, Football, Ewood Park, Blackburn, UK - 24 Feb 2024Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Marcelino Nunez curls in the opening goal for Norwich at Blackburn

Dominic Hyam scored his first goal for 17 months to earn Blackburn a point against Norwich at Ewood Park.

The centre-back headed home a second-half equaliser but Rovers could not give John Eustace his first win, the manager having now drawn three and lost one since taking charge.

Norwich had taken the lead with a Marcelino Nunez free-kick, but the Chile international limped off with a suspected hamstring injury late in the game.

The point is enough to see the Canaries back into seventh place, but they remain three points behind sixth-placed Hull.

Norwich had been hoping to boost their play-off hopes after putting together a five-match unbeaten run going into the game - and knowing Ewood is normally a happy hunting ground for them, winning on their five previous visits.

Blackburn have yet to experience any manager bounce since Eustace was appointed to succeed Jon Dahl Tomasson, after an alarming slump down the league table, and though they remain 16th they are now just four points above the drop zone.

Rovers had problems, with top scorer Sammie Szmodics very quiet in the game, having rushed from his wife's bedside - after she gave birth to their second child just four hours before kick-off.

Nunez lit up a dull start to the match after Kenny McLean had been brought down just outside the box by John Buckley. His free-kick arrowed into the top corner, with goalkeeper Aynsley Pears static.

Norwich keeper Angus Gunn kept the lead intact at half-time with three top-class saves from Blackburn striker Sam Gallagher, while Blackburn suffered a blow when Ryan Hedges limped off with an injury after just 15 minutes.

Pears also played his part, making a fine save from Josh Sargent when the in-form striker got in behind the Blackburn defence.

The Rovers keeper did it again in the second half, thrusting out a leg to block the ball as Christian Fassnacht tried to round him and score.

That proved vital as Blackburn hit back from a set-piece, one of several which troubled Norwich. Harry Pickering, on for Hedges, crossed and Hyam rose highest to head home the leveller.

Norwich went close to winning it in the closing stages as Onel Hernandez's cross cannoned off former Burnley star Ashley Barnes - roundly booed all day - and went wide, while Grant Hanley could not connect cleanly with a far-post header, and another Hernandez cross was behind Fassnacht with the goal at his mercy.

Blackburn Rovers manager John Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire: "I thought it was a very good performance against one of the top teams in the league at the moment. "We created some really good chances in the first half, we showed great character in the second half to come back and equalise. "We're making small steps forward and I was pleased with the point in the end. I would have loved three points of course but I thought the lads showed great commitment and character to come from behind. "Our football at times was very good, we created two or three fantastic chances from some real good moves. "It's about being patient, you can see us growing as a group."

Norwich head coach David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk: "A frustrating result but performance-wise I've seen a lot of good things. We played through our structure, everyone put a shift in, we created very good opportunities. "The one thing we have to complain about is that we were not ruthless and clinical enough. "We concede from a corner, it's too easy, this is something where you have to be better but this is football, sometimes you have opportunities to score three, four goals in a game, today we haven't. "We only have one point but we take it and we move on. Nothing gets decided today but we keep pushing like we've done in recent weeks. "Now we recover and we have a home game against Sunderland, a big one for us but all the games are big."

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