Rovers Down Under- Day 2!!!!

In what was torrential Sydney weather, the normal tucked up in the stands, whilst the brave where outright stupid, standing on the perimeter, half a metre from the dugouts....Guess which category Sas, Adam and Scott (yes another Vber!) fell under!!!

Struggling to see metres ahead of us, we persisted, until kick-off, when the rain started to fade away. Blackburn were up against AEK, and you could be forgiven for thinking we were in Lancashire. As a smiling Chris Samba said, 'its like we are back in England'....not the normal Sydney weather, but we wanted Rovers to feel at home...

A few changes to the line up, a Starting 11 featuring

Robinson, Jacobsen, Givet, Hanley, Jones, Nzonzi, Emerton, Dunn, Andrews, Olsson and Roberts.

It was a chance for the youngsters to shine, and also a shot for Jacobsen, Andrews and Roberts to lay claim on a first team spot. Emerton made his return to the starting line up, to the pleasure of the three amigos.

After applying plenty of early pressure, Blackburn were dealt a double blow within minutes. A neat one-two down the right flank found AEK with an extra man. A quick interchange of passes saw Scocco with the ball on the left edge. Cutting inside Jacobsen, Scocco struck into the far corner, 1-0 AEK...

Almost immediately, the score was doubled. Another fast break on the right, a pin point cross and Liberopoulos latched onto it, 2-0 AEK....

And just as the second went in, the rain picked up. Apart from a superb 60m run by Phil Jones, lovers had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The break came, and we persisted, hanging just outside the dugout, taking photos with Ryan Nelsen, Jason Brown, Morten Gamst Pedersen and Chris Samba.

The second half appeared, and Phil Jones remained our shining light. Strong in defence, it soon appeared that Sam had given him a slightly more attacking role. He showed signs of trickery, dispatching the ball all over the pitch and beating his man. However, the same could not be said for Gael Givet. A mistimed back pass saw an AEK striker through. His chipped shot was parried by Paul Robinson. The ball bobbled straight up, and after a three touch juggling act, Robbo volleyed the ball to safety, to the amusement of the Rovers bench.

Young Josh Morris made a 20 minute appearance, on for Martin Olsson. And the kid impressed, taking on his man and releasing the ball as needed. Rovers upped the tempo with the introduction of El Hadji Diouf and Morten Gamst Pedersen, with the later providing an immediate impact.

A short free kick was whipped in by Gamst, with Phil Jones powering his header into the back of the net. 2-1...

Unfortunately, Blackburn just couldnt find anything in the final 10 minutes, maybe a win against the home team to end the trip!!!

After the game, thanks to Adam, we managed to snare more photos and signatures with El Hadji Diouf, Steven Nzonzi, Pascal Chimbonda, Adam even having a quick chat with Brett Emerton!

So day 2 was over, we braved the weather, and look forward to the final day!

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.