Blackburn booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with a 2-1 victory at Portsmouth.
McCarthy and Pedersen send Rovers into last eight
Blackburn booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with a 2-1 victory at Portsmouth.
Benni McCarthy's simple opener came on 12 minutes and reflected Blackburn's superiority, but Pompey were fighting back after a double change at half-time when Pedersen capitalised on an error by Pedro Mendes with 14 minutes left.
Kanu's consolation goal deep in stoppage time came too late to matter and home fans were left ruing a miserable miss by fellow substitute David Nugent, the £6 million signing missing a sitter from two yards 10 minutes after the break.
Blackburn went in front on 12 minutes as McCarthy, left totally unmarked, slotted home Aaron Mokoena's right-wing cross from about eight yards.
There was a shock for Blackburn when Aaron Mokoena, who had just come back on the field after treatment for a knock suddenly collapsed, grabbing his knee, and he was forced to be replaced by Brett Emerton.
With 14 minutes left Pedersen sealed a quarter-final place for Rovers. Benjani had just been replaced by Kanu when Pedro Mendes lost possession just inside his own area and although he recovered to block Santa Cruz's shot, the ball ran loose for the Norwegian to rifle home.
Kanu headed in Glen Johnson's stoppage-time free-kick but it did little to cheer the vast majority of a disappointing crowd below 12,000.
| Portsmouth |
Team Statistics |
Blackburn Rovers |
| 1 |
Goals |
2 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
5 |
| 4 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
0 |
| 7 |
Corners |
4 |
| 6 |
Fouls |
8 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 49.3 |
Possession |
50.7 |
|
