#blackburn-rovers

#blackburn-rovers

Promotion and relegation matters may have already been settled heading into the final day of the Championship season, but the battle for two play-off spots provided plenty of twists and turns.Coventry City and Millwall sat fifth and sixth respectively at the start of the day, but Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion all harboured hopes of gatecrashing the top six.

Leeds United have appointed Sam Allardyce as their new manager for the final four games of the season in a last-ditch effort to avoid relegation from the Premier League, the Yorkshire club said on Wednesday.Allardyce replaces Javi Gracia following a crushing 4-1 loss to fellow-strugglers Bournemouth on Sunday that left Leeds without a win in five games and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference from third-from-bottom Nottingham Forest.

Manchester City begin their defence of the Intercontinental Cup as they welcome Blackburn Rovers to the Academy Stadium.The blues came from a goal down in the final in March to beat Chelsea 3-1 at Wimbledon to claim Gareth Taylor's second major trophy as manager, and face Championship side Rovers in this season's opening match.

Manchester City will face Vincent Kompany's Burnley in the FA Cup quarterfinals, with the former City captain set to return to the Etihad Stadium for the first time as a manager.In the other ties Manchester United will host Fulham, while League Two's Grimsby Town will travel to face Premier League Brighton and Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers will face off in an all- Championship battle.

Tommy Doyle struck a stoppage injury-time winner to send Sheffield United into the FA Cup semi-finals as they got the better of fellow Championship side Blackburn Rovers in a breathless encounter.Line-ups
Sheff Utd
Substitutes
Blackburn
Substitutes
Live Text

Goal! Sheffield United 3, Blackburn Rovers 2. Tommy Doyle (Sheffield United) right footed shot from outside the box to the top right corner.

Queens Park Rangers have sacked manager Neil Critchley after just 12 games in charge at Loftus Road.The west London club have gone 10 Championship games without a win and are 17th in the table, eight points above the relegation zone.Critchley, 44, was appointed in December after Michael Beale left for Scottish giants Rangers.

As the rain poured down at full-time and Leicester City's dejected players trudged off the pitch, Blackburn's supporters remained in their corner of the King Power Stadium.The euphoric contingent of travelling fans are now dreaming of a trip to the capital after a deserved 2-1 victory over the Premier League side, courtesy of goals from Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics took their side into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Marcus Rashford has said he wishes Manchester United could "play today" to "put things right" after Sunday's 7-0 Premier League loss at Liverpool .However, Rashford, 25, said the squad must ensure the match does not "define their season"."I wish we could play a game today to try and put things right," the forward tweeted.

Blackpool have sacked head coach Michael Appleton after only seven months in charge, following a run of one win in 11 games.Assistant head coach David Kerslake will also leave the Championship club, who are second bottom of the table."The club would like to thank Michael and David for their efforts during their time at Bloomfield Road and wish them all the best," a statement said.

Ben Brereton Diaz smashed in a late free-kick to end his personal goal drought and rescue a point for Blackburn Rovers against West Bromwich Albion.Substitute Jayson Molumby's 73rd-minute header looked to have earned Albion all three points.But John Swift was adjudged to have brought down Lewis Travis on the edge of the Baggies box in the 89th minute - and Brereton Diaz exacted full punishment from 20 yards with an explosive right-foot shot that debutant Albion keeper Josh Griffiths got a hand to but could not keep out.

Shaun Maloney's reign as Wigan Athletic manager began with an attritional Championship stalemate at Blackburn Rovers.The newly appointed Latics boss, one of Wigan's 2013 FA Cup heroes, saw his bottom-of-the-table side enjoy the better of the Ewood Park exchange with a spirited display against their play-off chasing hosts.

By Brian McLauchlin BBC Scotland


Last updated on .From the section Hibernian
Hibernian are considering an offer from Blackburn Rovers for Scotland defender Ryan Porteous.Italian side Udinese have already had an offer in the region of £250,000 turned down for the 23-year-old.There has also been interest - but no bid - from French club Toulouse.

An inspired performance from Brennan Johnson helped Nottingham Forest overcome Blackburn at Ewood Park to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.The forward put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot, but Blackburn equalised shortly before half-time through Scott Wharton.Jesse Lingard's deflected free-kick restored Forest's advantage before a Taiwo Awoniyi strike made it three.

Substitute Ellis Simms snatched an injury-time winner as Sunderland came from behind to beat Blackburn.Ross Stewart, making his first start in four months, headed Tyler Morton's free-kick into his own net to give Rovers an early lead.But Stewart atoned for his error two minutes later, winning and scoring a penalty to make it 1-1.

Sheffield United cemented their position in second in the Championship with victory at Wigan Athletic, ruining Kolo Toure's first home game in charge of the Latics.The Blades are just three points behind leaders Burnley and now five ahead of Blackburn Rovers thanks to goals either side of the break from John Egan and Billy Sharp.

Disgruntled Norwich City fans called for manager Dean Smith's dismissal after witnessing their side lose at home to fellow Championship promotion hopefuls Blackburn Rovers.Ben Gibson's own goal and a Tyrhys Dolan strike condemned the Canaries to defeat as Rovers returned to third place in the table.

Ched Evans grabbed a second-half double as Preston North End thrashed fellow promotion hopefuls Blackburn Rovers to move to within two points of their Lancashire rivals.Bradley Dack's close-range strike gave brief hope of a Rovers response at a bitterly cold and snowy Ewood Park.But the 4,000 travelling travelling fans were not jittery for long as Evans headed home a delightful Greg Cunningham cross before Ben Whiteman thumped in a fourth to all but settle the match with 25 minutes still remaining.

Glasgow Rangers sold two of their finest players from last season during the summer transfer window for massive profit, with Joe Aribo ( £10m) and Calvin Bassey ( £23m) departing Ibrox for pastures new.This isn't the first time this has happened, however, as Alex McLeish faced a similar conundrum way back in the summer of 2003.

Burnley overwhelmed Blackburn Rovers with three second-half goals as Vincent Kompany's Clarets returned to the top of the Championship in style.Turf Moor favourite Ashley Barnes opened his Championship account for the season to score twice, either side of one from Belgian winger Anass Zaroury, as Rovers ended up on the wrong side of a local derby hammering.

Coventry City climbed out of the Championship bottom three for the first time this season as they beat second-placed Blackburn Rovers to deny Jon Dahl Tomasson's side the chance of top spot.Jamie Allen struck the only goal of the game on 42 minutes with a well-taken right-foot shot from close range.