Blackburn 1-2 Stoke City: Jack McGlynn steers Potters to victory
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City at Ewood Park on Tuesday night; Jack McGlynn stars again as Stoke claim another crucial win.
Tuesday 3 November 2026 23:09, UK
Jack McGlynn scored an audacious free-kick as Stoke held off a late Blackburn comeback to win 2-1 in the Championship.
After weathering early Blackburn pressure, McGlynn caught everyone off guard in the 43rd minute, finding the net with a spectacular set piece from the left instead of the expected cross to notch his fourth of the campaign.
Substitute Moussa Baradji's own goal in the 68th minute gave the Potters a deserved cushion as they seemed set for a comfortable victory.
But Andri Gudjohnsen's tap-in halved the deficit in the 87th minute and the Icelandic forward thought he had equalised three minutes later when skilfully steering a header into the far corner but referee Andrew Kitchen penalised the striker for a push, much to the fury of the Rovers fans and coaching staff.
Despite the late scare, Stoke held on to make it eight wins in 11 and move level on goal difference with second-placed Birmingham.
Stoke's victory here last season owed much to Viktor Johansson's heroics and he was at it again within four minutes when he produced a stunning stop to tip Todd Cantwell's rasping 18-yard drive behind.
Johansson was needed again close to the half hour when Hayden Carter pounced on a loose ball and strode forward into the space to unleash a low drive that the Swede pushed wide for a corner.
Despite their dominance, Rovers fell behind just before the break thanks to an outrageous free-kick from McGlynn. Wide on the left, the American went for goal rather than sending in a cross everyone was expecting and while Balazs Toth got a hand to it, the referee checked his watch to indicate it was over the line.
Dapo Afolayan planted a header wide of the far post after meeting Jayden Fevrier's right-wing cross, as Rovers tried to respond.
Robert Bozenik spurned a glorious chance just after the hour when played through by Million Manhoef, but he could not slot beyond the outstretched Toth.
Stoke recycled possession, the ball fell to Ben Johnson on the edge of the area and his venomous strike deflected wide with Toth well beaten.
The visitors' pressure finally told in the 68th minute when Manhoef was given time and space to race through Blackburn's defence and though Toth pulled off a sharp save down to his left, substitute Yuri Ribeiro's attempted clearance hit fellow replacement Baradji and rebounded into the empty net.
Gudjohnsen handed Rovers a lifeline three minutes from time when Johansson failed to hold Sam Morsy's shot, pouncing for his ninth of the season and he thought he had helped Rovers to a great escape with a towering header three minutes later from Gady Beyuku's cross but it was controversially ruled out and Stoke held on.
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The managers
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray:
"Having watched it back, it's embarrassing really. People come to watch football to see entertainment and goals.
"Listen, I can't understand it really. I've watched it back. Does he put his hands up? Yes because the guy is going to back into him, to protect himself and hold him off. Is it a forward motion and a push? No. Does the guy throw his arms up in the air? Yes. I think the referee gets it hugely wrong. Hugely wrong.
"What hurts a little bit more is the inconsistency of the officials, I suppose.
"Thinking back a few weeks to West Brom away when Gudjohnsen gets blatantly pushed with two hands. Play on, they go down the other end, get a penalty, get back to two each and then win the game late on. Just the inconsistency of it.
"I thought ultimately we played pretty well tonight. We've played probably not as well and won football matches. There you go, that's the game."
Stoke's Mark Robins:
"You look for quality in the game and the first goal was that. Honestly, I saw the goalkeeper, where he was stood and I'm thinking 'go on, please see it'.
"He (McGlynn) moved to his right a little bit more to open his stance up and I thought 'go on', and he did it and honestly, he's the only one who could do it out of our team on the pitch. I think (Todd) Cantwell may try that. He's got the audacity to do that, and the ability to do that. I also think there's a couple of others on our team who could do that, who are that good.
"But for Jack, that's incredible. To see it, to spot it, to try it - but to execute it is absolutely fantastic.
"We manage to hold on after the goal was disallowed but rightly so, picked the three points up. Support was absolutely brilliant."
