Goals from Jason Roberts and Richard Garcia saw Blackburn and Hull draw 1-1 at Ewood Park.
First-half goals mean points shared at Ewood Park
Blackburn and Hull shared the spoils with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.
It was a fair result as both teams showed plenty of effort but created few chances and it took until the 38th minute for Jason Roberts to open the scoring for the home side.
He sprung Hull's offside trap to gather a long-ball from Steven Reid on the right and slotted coolly past Boaz Myhill.
But Hull were level within two minutes when Richard Garcia scored with a sublime header from a Craig Fagan cross which gave Rovers keeper Paul Robinson no chance.
The result gives both teams a respectable return of four points from their first two Premier League games after opening day victories.
Midfielder Steven Reid had Blackburn's first shot on goal after 10 minutes, but the ball took a slight deflection off a defender which made Myhill's save more comfortable.
Squandered
Rovers then came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock when a Morten Gamst Pedersen shot from 20 yards just drifted wide of the mark, although the visitors squandered an even better opportunity of their own midway through the half.
Dean Marney broke free down the right-hand side but, instead of shooting for goal or finding the unmarked Fagan on the far post, found himself in two minds and rolled the ball harmlessly past the far post, five yards in front of his team-mate.
The visitors, spurred on by a tremendous and very vocal travelling contingent behind Myhill's goal, were giving as good as they were getting as half-time approached, only to fall behind in the 38th minute.
Reid's long ball from halfway found Roberts in acres of space, and the former Wigan man coolly drew the goalkeeper before stabbing the ball into the back of the net with the defence all claiming for an offside flag that never came.
The lead lasted barely a minute, though, with Fagan cutting inside from the right and finding Garcia with his left-footed cross, the midfielder's header looping over the head of Robinson and into the far corner via the post - again with a suspicion of offside.
Rovers made one change at the interval, the returning Brett Emerton replacing David Dunn in what was surely an injury-enforced move as the midfielder was arguably the best player on the pitch in the first half.
Lively
Emerton looked immediately at home on the right-hand side of midfield, but it was down the left that Rovers nearly regained the lead after 57 minutes.
The lively Roberts again found himself in space and, after cutting in on his favoured right foot, it took a superb block from Anthony Gardner to snuff out the danger.
Hull made a change of their own just before the hour mark, Bernard Mendy replacing Andy Dawson at the back, with Caleb Folan replacing Geovanni shortly after.
Roque Santa Cruz, who signed a new four-year contract on Friday, had his first sight of goal midway through the second period after Stephen Warnock fed the ball into his path, but Michael Turner threw himself into the block.
The experienced Tugay replaced Aaron Mokoena for Rovers, who then went close again through a header from Santa Cruz, with the Paraguayan firing just over moments later as the home side piled on the pressure.
Both goalscorers were then replaced with 10 minutes remaining, Nick Barmby replacing Garcia and Roberts making way for Benni McCarthy, as both managers pushed for a winning goal that never came.
| Blackburn Rovers |
Team Statistics |
Hull City |
| 1 |
Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 6 |
Corners |
3 |
| 11 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
9 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 73.1 |
Passing Success |
69.1 |
| 18 |
Tackles |
20 |
| 77.8 |
Tackles Success |
85 |
| 62.4 |
Possession |
37.6 |
| 63 |
Territorial Advantage |
37 |
|
