Blackburn Rovers vs Sheffield United. Sky Bet Championship.
Ewood ParkAttendance17,291.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United at Ewood Park as the home side came from behind to claim victory with goals from Reda Khadra, Ben Brereton and Ian Poveda
Saturday 6 November 2021 18:46, UK
Blackburn bounced back impressively from the midweek hammering against Fulham by coming from behind to convincingly defeat Sheffield United 3-1.
It was a real display of character from Tony Mowbray's Sky Bet Championship team, who were beaten 7-0 at home by Fulham in the week.
The hosts could be forgiven for having a sense of deja vu when they fell behind within 90 seconds to Rhian Brewster's first league goal for United.
But Rovers were deservedly level eight minutes before the break when Reda Khadra marked his first start for the club with his first goal.
From there, Rovers were superior and Ben Brereton Diaz completed the turnaround in the 59th minute, tapping home from close range.
In a game of firsts, Ian Poveda's quick feet brought a first Blackburn goal of his own in the 70th minute to seal the success.
It was a disappointing performance from the Blades who, despite Morgan Gibbs-White hitting the woodwork, delivered little on their way to a second defeat in three matches.
Blackburn's defence was breached within two minutes when Scott Wharton failed to intercept a pass to Sharp and the veteran wriggled free before floating a cross in for the unmarked Brewster, who spectacularly volleyed into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
To the hosts' credit, they were the better side despite that early setback and struck a 37th-minute equaliser - albeit fortuitously - through Khadra, who jinked beyond Chris Basham and inside from the left before letting fly on the edge of the area with an effort that took a wicked deflection to completely wrong-foot Robin Olsen.
Rovers started the second half in the ascendancy, but the Blades went close in the 57th minute after Sharp brilliantly controlled a long ball to set up a chance but his shot was blocked by the legs of Thomas Kaminski.
It proved crucial as Blackburn went ahead two minutes later when Lewis Travis found Poveda and his low cross from the byline was tailor-made for Brereton Diaz, who tapped home his 13th goal this term from two yards out.
And they broke in devastating fashion in the 70th minute to add a third as Brereton Diaz released Poveda and - although his initial shot was saved - he provided a touch of magic with a touch that took the ball away from Olsen before firing in from close range.
The Blades somehow passed up a chance to pull a goal back with 15 minutes to go as Lys Mousset was denied with just Kaminski to beat, before Gibbs-White's thunderous effort smacked the post.
Rovers could have made the scoreline even more emphatic but Olsen palmed away from Brereton Diaz, before a fine curling effort from John Buckley thumped the post.
It mattered not, as Blackburn climbed to sixth in the table.
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "We talked about getting off to a good start and making sure we were still in the game after 20 minutes. Obviously (that) went down well because we found ourselves one down after 80 seconds. I thought they reacted extremely well. It's no surprise to me, that's what they do and I've been saying that.
"We all had to cope with the game midweek but I think it showed great strength of character that this team has, after the start we had today, to be able to come back and still together and find a way to win."
Sheffield United's Slavisa Jokanovic: "The performance was poor. We started the game very well, scored the goal. Maybe after the goal we had a problem with intensity, we made some unforced mistakes and brought them into our box. Second half, it's simple. We conceded the goal after the offensive transition, and after unforced mistakes, even after the set pieces when they started running, we didn't have enough speed, power, weren't solid and they found a lot of situations where they could score goals.
"Of course, we created some chances. Billy (Sharp) missed one at the start of the second half. We weren't clinical in a few situations in the second half but I enjoyed nothing in the game. They were more solid, we weren't comfortable with the ball. Even the chances we created, they were more dangerous than us. They scored three, they could have scored more. In total, we don't deserve anything other than this defeat. Today was the worst game that we have played."
