Blackburn Rovers - 2 Everton - 1:English FA Premiership: Blackburn's relief is Everton's anguished regret. After eight increasingly fraught and winless games, Rovers celebrated a rare if unconvincing victory last night to haul them away from the dregs at the bottom.
Graeme Souness has waited since September to savour success of any kind, so that what had once threatened to be a walkover ended in nail-biting anxiety and with David Unsworth skying over from virtually under the bar will hardly bother the Scot.
After five successive league defeats and for the first time here since the season's opening day, Rovers have stopped the rot.
Instead, the immediate sense of crisis has been transposed on to Merseyside. Everton were sixth this time last year with twice as many points as the paltry 10 eked out so far this term.
The visitors may have been riddled by a 'flu bug sweeping through Bellefield, but they were decidedly peaky here and awake this morning settled uncomfortably in the relegation zone.
That Wayne Rooney was one of those who had succumbed to the bug further undermined Everton's chances. David Moyes is unsure as to whether the teenager will be able to link up with the England squad tomorrow.
Rooney has been off-colour for his club for a while, though he was still sorely missed. With a scarcely fit forward line spluttering in his absence, Everton did not muster a credible shot on target before the break by when their shoddy defending had all but ensured this contest was lost.
Poor Peter Clarke, an England Under-21 international with his negligible Premiership experience painfully clear, deputised for the bed-ridden Alan Stubbs and the crocked David Weir, but cut a forlorn figure in this mess.
The visitors failed miserably to clear Barry Ferguson's early free-kick, with Garry Flitcroft heading back and Clarke nodding inadvertently on for Markus Babbel to guide in his first Blackburn goal from point-blank range.
That eased the obvious home nerves, the Merseysiders' defensive shambles improving the Lancastrian mood further thereafter.
Babbel was soon forcing Nigel Martyn to tip another header from the outstanding Brett Emerton's left-wing cross on to the bar.
From the Australian's resultant short corner, Dwight Yorke was granted the freedom of the six-yard box to thump in the second.
However, a double substitution promptly offered Everton a belated bite to their approach.
James McFadden, watched by the Scotland manager Berti Vogts, soon shimmied breathlessly to the by-line with his cross palmed meekly by Brad Friedel to the unattended Tomasz Radzinski. The Canadian gleefully nodded into the empty net.
The concession changed the complexion, Rovers suddenly jittery when faced by the visitors' renewed huff and puff with Tobias Linderoth's diving header speared just wide.
Paul Gallagher's shot, tipped aside by Martyn, was a reminder that Everton's vulnerability on the break remained, though by then the home side's earlier dominance was a mere memory.
- Guardian Service
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Babbel, Gresko, Emerton, Ferguson, Flitcroft, Reid, Jansen (Baggio 79), Yorke (Gallagher 46). Subs Not Used: Martin Taylor, Tugay, Enckelman. Booked: Ferguson, Gresko, Flitcroft. Goals: Babbel 6, Yorke 13.
EVERTON: Martyn, Hibbert, Yobo, Clarke, Naysmith (Jeffers 82), Gravesen, Nyarko (Unsworth 45), Linderoth, Kilbane (McFadden 45), Campbell, Radzinski. Subs Not Used: Chadwick, Simonsen. Booked: Linderoth, Campbell. Goals: Radzinski 49.
Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).
