Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Alex Brooks was in inspired form as Gemma Donnelly’s side held Liverpool to a goalless draw at The Sir Tom Finney Stadium this afternoon.
Rovers had already started the season brightly before welcoming Liverpool to the Sir Tom Finney Stadium. The Blue and Whites were sitting comfortably mid-table with games in hand on the leading pack, so a decent result today would have strengthened their, admittedly slim, chances of entering the promotion race. As for Liverpool, they were just one point off league leaders Durham at the start of the day so they wouldn’t want to lose any ground on The Wildcats especially as they had a tough away trip to Sheffield United.
It was the Lancashire the club who finished the day the happier, as they earned a hard-fought point in a goalless draw.
Liverpool started strongly and looked certain to take the lead in the opening three minutes when a trio of their players were given the freedom of Bamber Bridge and Amalie Thestrup just needed to pick her spot and she would’ve put her team a goal to the good. However, home keeper Brooks stuck out a strong right boot and diverted the shot away for a corner.
Blackburn Rovers had a tremendous chance of their own during a rare venture forward. Some great work on the wing from on loan Manchester United youngster Maria Edwards meant she could feed to ball to Elise Hughes who in turn, picked out her captain Saffron Jordan in the area. The striker looked to be in two minds, whether to go for placement or power, and she fired her effort right at Rachael Laws in the Liverpool goal.
Liverpool had another great chance late in the half when Ashley Hodson floated a cross in from the left and it rebounded off the far post. Brooks was stranded having followed the flight of the ball and when the rebound fell to the feet of Amalie Thestrup who looked certain to score, she blazed her shot over.
There came a controversial moment early in the second half when a long ball up from Brooks was mis-controlled and handled by Leighanne Robe. The ball then fell to the feet of Jordan who was through on goal and buried it into Laws goal, however, the referee had already blown and hadn’t given the advantage much to the dismay of the home side.
With players pushed forward for the free-kick, Liverpool were able to catch Rovers on the counter through Hodson who picked out Rinsola Babajide who was free in the box. The Liverpool number 10 simply had to score but she was closed down by Brooks and the England winger fired the ball straight at her.
Babajide then had another gilt-edged opportunity to put her side ahead. She pressed Ali Johnson well on the halfway line to snatch the ball from the defender and race towards goal, however, once again Brooks closed her down and got the better of the Liverpool forward.
The Merseyside club were eventually made to rue those missed opportunities as the game finished goalless. For Vicky Jepson’s side, they will see it as two points dropped as they had the better chances but couldn’t finish them whereas Rovers, thanks to Brooks’ heroics, have now equalled their points tally from last season but in five fewer matches and thus displaying real progress since being promoted 18 months’ ago.
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