Half time: Rovers 0 United 0

(73 mins Jeff Kenna missed a penalty)

Full time: Rovers 0 United 0

Ruud Gullit said:
 
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Brian Kidd:

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Press Association match report:

Jeff Kenna's worst nightmares came back to haunt him at Ewood Park this afternoon.

The Blackburn defender missed a penalty against Newcastle for the second time in a month. Kenna had failed with a spot-kick in injury time of the Worthington Cup clash against Newcastle last month.

Today he bravely stepped up again only to suffer an action replay. This time he crashed his right-foot shot against the post.

It robbed new boss Brian Kidd of his first official victory in charge of Blackburn - but in truth neither of these sides deserved three points in what was a drab and lifeless encounter.

Indeed, for the most part the main action was provided for the second week running by Kidd himself.

Blackburn's new manager gave us a quite wonderful performance, full of the qualities which make football the world's greatest game.

There was passion and fire, there was zest and commitment and there was hand-wringing tension. And all that in the confines of the manager's touchline rectangle.

In one particularly stunning show of athleticism for a 49-year-old he raced out of his dug-out and leapt spectacularly to pluck an errant pass out of the air with a skill of which either goalkeeper would have been proud.

The 27,569 fans - Rovers' biggest crowd of the season - who turned out for Kidd's first official game in charge greeted it with a throaty roar.

And well they might. Because it was by far the best piece of soccer skill on show all afternoon.

With Kidd around there was a breath of fresh air among the fans who flocked to Ewood Park. The players, however, served up a stinker.

In a week when Britain's European challenge all but died this game only proved how ordinary the Premiership can really be.


Biffa