Allardyce relief as Blyth spirit exorcised
minnows almost add blackburn rovers to list of fa cup shock results
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Blyth Spartans0
Blackburn Rovers1
BLACKBURN manager Sam Allardyce was a relieved man after seeing his side survive a late FA Cup scare at non-league Blyth last night.
The English Premier League outfit seemed to be heading for a comfortable victory when Carlos Villanueva’s sumptuous 59th-minute free kick finally gave them the lead at Croft Park.
But having missed a series of chances, Rovers were almost made to pay five minutes from time when Blyth substitute Andrew Wright fired inches wide.
Allardyce said: “I thought it was a goal. It was a little harder to miss than score. He did have an open goal to put it in and put it wide and that’s their chance gone.
“But, from our point of view, we should have seen the game off a lot sooner than that and nearly paid a heavy price for not doing it.”
Allardyce rested his entire first team for the third-round clash with the Blue Square North minnows, whose FA Cup tradition includes a fifth-round replay against Wrexham in front of 42,167 at Newcastle’s St James’s Park in 1978.
While his understudies dominated the game, they were unable to make their greater quality tell until Villanueva intervened – and then struggled to kill off their doughty opponents.
However, Rovers ultimately saw out a tense conclusion to extend their unbeaten run under their new manager to four games and book a fourth-round trip to Sunderland.
Allardyce added: “What we have seen – and I am glad we are not one of the big boys who have gone under – is a lot of shocks.
“I saw Aston Villa struggle immensely against a Gillingham side and Hartlepool beating Stoke just down the road here was a big shock result and Torquay beating Blackpool and Southend drawing with Chelsea – so there have been some big results there.
“It was a hard place to come and play, we knew that, but we were always in control, apart from the last 10 minutes. The goal came at a good time for us because the only thing that was lacking in our play was the goal and once we had got it I thought we would see the game out more comfortably. But we didn’t get the second just to finish them off and then had to do a little bit of desperate defending towards the end.”
But if Allardyce blamed poor finishing for an uncomfortable end to his evening in Northumberland, he was fulsome in his praise for Blyth.
