<b>Blackburn Rovers - Bohemians Prague 1:0 (0:0)</b><br /> Blackburn lined up with American goalkeeper Brad Friedel at the back. However, after 23 minutes Friedel suffered an injury and was replaced by his well-known colleague, Enkelman. The defence for the blue-and-whites was strengthened by the presence of the Italian Lorenzo, who made his name playing for Glasgow Rangers. Next to him in defence Rovers introduced Slovak defender Vratislav Greško, who was later replaced by the man voted last season’s best player – Tugay.
The Praguers lined up with almost the same team that had played against Weiden – with the only change to the line-up being the replacement of Matuszny in favour of Macháček. Manager Uhrin is still working on a basis for his squad this autumn and it is looking likely that this team may be close to his final version. The match was played for the normal 90 minutes split into two equal halves.
The best chance to be carved out by Rovers came on the 29th minute, but Ilizi managed to catch Stead’s header. Bohemians were struggling to hold the ball against the opposition in this first half, although Blackburn were unable to make their ascendency count. Towards the end of the half the English club suffered its second injury – this time to Barry Ferguson.
The first goal came just three minutes after half time. Greško’s cross was aimed at Stead who the referee adjudged to have been fouled and pointed to the spot. De Pedro converted the susequent penalty.Bohemians had their best chance on 71 minutes when Koukal ran past the English team’s defence towards the goalmouth, however, his attempt went wide.
Thanks to the goal from their penalty Blackburn won 1-0 ending Bohemians‘ unbeaten summer run. Still, their invincibility prior to this match bodes well for their hopes of improving on last season‘s 3rd place in the second division.
