Bristol City defeated their opponents by a slim margin when they clashed in the Sky Bet Championship at Ashton Gate.
Aaron Wilbraham was the hero as he came off the bench in the closing minutes to get the much awaited winner. The 37-year old veteran striker latched unto a long cross from Lee Tomlin.
The 26-year old Northern Ireland international was able to play for just 20 minutes during the pre-season because of the groin strain injury encountered in Euro 2016. He featured for an hour in the 1-1 draw against QPR at Loftus Road, Leeds, Rotherham and Derby County.
The manager Owen Coyle was happy watching the midfielder performing awesomely in preparation for the clash with Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday 27th.
Numerous injuries have been a major problem for Blackburn manager Owen Coyle. As he tries to build the team from a poor start to the season, the former Bolton manager will appreciate any help that he receives from players returning from injuries.
One of the names who has just returned back to the first team is midfielder Corry Evans. He was part of the pre-season only for 15 minutes, which explains the scale of the injury troubles. However, he has just been allowed by the manager to be part of the Northern Ireland squad that will play in a World Cup qualifying match next week.
English side Blackburn Rovers is having bad times as the club is set to lose two more players to the injury list as Elliott Ward and Elliott Bennett are set to miss the game against Mansfield Town in the English Football League Cup first round.
The centre back Ward picked up an ankle injury in the Championship opener played on Saturday. He player admitted the injury was serious when Norwich City scored their second goal.
Northern Ireland has seriously struggled in the 2016 Euro’s as they lost their opening match of the tournament after losing against Poland and 9 days later sustaining another loss against Germany.
From the 3 opening matches of the competition that they have played so far, only 1 victory has been secured which was when facing off with Ukraine but it’s enough for them to progress into the next rounds of the 2016 Euro’s.
Northern Ireland is competing in Group C along with: Ukraine, Poland and Germany. Fortunately for the Irish outfit, Ukraine are going through a disastrous campaign and it allows the team of Michael O’Neill to get past the group stages.
Northern Ireland has 2 friendly matches scheduled to take place on May 27 and June 4 as the team of Martin O’Neil has to play against Belarus and Slovakia respectively.
Corry Evans of Blackburn Rovers is a midfielder who has played for the Northern Irish squad a few years ago but it’s been some time since he has been able to represent his national side and the 25 year old was called up for a chance to perform in these upcoming friendly encounters.
Corry Evans who is away on international duty as Northern Ireland prepare for the European Championships says he is prepared to work with the new coach. The player complained bitterly recently as he wondered how long it would take the club to appoint a new manager, especially as they need to start preparations for life after the summer.
Evans who is 25 years of age is part of the Northern Ireland team set to face Slovakia in a final warm-up match on Saturday before heading to France for the tournament. Team mate Shane Duffy joined him as he was also named in the Ireland squad.
Corry Evans returns to the Blackburn team that drew with Nottingham Forest
Corry Evans returned to Blackburn team that earned a draw at the City Ground. The match ended 1-1 with both teams finding it difficult to score the winning goal.
The manager opted for a 4-1-4-1 formation in an attempt to strengthen his midfield. Blackburn started the game quite nervously and gave the ball away needlessly in the opening minutes. However, they improved quickly and began to control the game. They had their first occasion with Marshall, who shot wide of the target after drifting inside from the left.
Paul Lambert does not have the idea at this point of time whether the plans that he has for the progression of the club would get a go-ahead from the hierarchy.
According to Lambert, what he has figured out in his 3-month Blackburn stint is that everyone is willing for the club to progress and not just stand at the same point and it would be brilliant if the owners have the same opinion too and they give him a free hand for the execution of the plans.
Lambert, since the time of his appointment, has maintained that transfer business in the coming summer would be absolutely pivotal and it’s probably in that regard that he wants a bit of freedom from the owners.
Southampton hosted Liverpool on March 20 and despite falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the team of Ronald Koeman managed to make an outstanding comeback as the home team scored 3 goals in the 2nd half which was just enough for Southampton to secure the victory and snatch all 3 points.
Ronald Koeman reached the 53 year old mark on May 21st and the 3-2 victory over Liverpool was played only 1 day before.
