Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill has labelled midfielder Sondre Tronstad's season ending injury as a "devastating blow" in their fight against relegation.

The 30-year-old was taken off at half-time during the side's defeat to Bristol City with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and has since undergone reconstructive surgery.

"We were trying to be optimistic, trying to be hopeful, but in the first half against Bristol City you could tell he wasn't himself," O'Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"The outcome was the worst we feared."

Tronstad had initially suffered a knee problem during their game against Queens Park Rangers on 14 February, but O'Neill does not believe the additional two games against Preston North End and Bristol City caused any further damage.

"When he trained on the Monday, he felt fine," he added.

"If he had walked off the pitch against QPR at that moment when he had done the injury, I don't believe he would have been fit.

"He would have gone through the process, which would have been a scan, and we would have found the same level of damage."

O'Neill is "optimistic", however, that defender Hayden Carter will be available for the game against relegation rivals Portsmouth on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 GMT) despite going off in the second half against the Robins.

Carter has only played six games since his return from a long-term calf injury that caused him to miss much of the season.

Defender Scott Wharton is also available but it would be "unrealistic" for him to play many minutes, according to O'Neill, and midfielder Sidnei Tavares is back in training.

Forward Augustus Kargbo has suffered a setback while playing with the Under-21 side and will not be available until after the international break.

Listen to the full pre-match interview on BBC Sounds

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Image source, Opta

There's a big game in the battle near the bottom of the Championship on Saturday (12:30 GMT) as Portsmouth head to Ewood Park to play Blackburn.

Rovers are 20th, two places and four points clear of the relegation zone, but a place and a point below Pompey, who also have a game in hand.

After back-to-back wins, Blackburn have lost their past two games, at home to Bristol City and at Derby last Saturday, having led in both games.

Blues have also followed two wins with two defeats, going down at Wrexham before being edged-out at home to Hull City on Saturday.

• Blackburn have won eight of their past 10 home league games against Portsmouth (L2), winning the past four in a row since a 1-0 defeat in the Premier League in September 2007.

• Portsmouth are looking to complete their first league double over Blackburn Rovers since the 1969-70 campaign.

• Blackburn Rovers haven't won any of their past 10 league games in the month of March (D4 L6) since a 2-1 win over Reading back in March 2023.

• This game will be John Mousinho's 150th league game in charge of Portsmouth – he's the 11th manager to reach that landmark, with only two of the previous 10 winning their 150th game in charge: Bob Jackson in December 1950 and Jim Smith in October 1994.

• No side has dropped more points from winning positions in the Championship this season than Blackburn Rovers (22, level with Wrexham), losing 3-1 from 1-0 up last time out against Derby.

Image source, Shutterstock

Earlier we asked what you make of the news that, from next season, the Championship play-offs will be expanded to include the teams finishing seventh and eighth?

It was announced on Thursday morning that EFL clubs voted in favour of expanding the play-offs from four to six teams.

Here's a selection of your comments...

Josh, Derby: I don't believe this is necessary. I do think that the play-off format should be aligned throughout the top five leagues, but expanding isn't needed. Better distribution of the monies involved and establishing a clear matchday structure to balance various men's and women's leagues would be a better use of everyone's time. This strikes me undue American influence.

Callum, Dartford: I think it's a good thing so teams can push for promotion that thought they wouldn't get near the play-offs.

Cato, Sheffield: If we adopted it to this season, it means that eighth-placed Derby (on 51 points) have about as much a chance of going up as third-placed Millwall (on 63 points). Plus, to accommodate the extra games, would they extend the season into June? I don't like the idea of it at all, and I hope it's short-lived.

Steve, London: Another example of football being ruined, week by week. Don't you dare think about implementing VAR too.

Mark, Stafford: As a Stoke fan, I think it's good news. The season has come to a grinding halt due to being decimated by injuries. Add to that, the quality of what is coming down from the Premier League, it would mean upsets can happen and still allow teams in that mid-table race to dream of greater heights!

Richard, Stansted: Absolutely ridiculous. What is the point of a league format if you are going to make it a bigger lottery to include even more teams at the end of the season? It also brings teams that are even less ready to actually be in the Premier League into scope. But mostly it's the undermining of the league format which makes no sense. I'm a Derby fan - and we look like we would have a chance of benefiting from this if it were in place this season.

Andy, Nuneaton: Anything that expands the opportunities for those outside of the parachute teams is a good thing. We need to get away from this elite view of the Premier League. If it was up to them, they'd stop automatic promotion and relegation and have a system like Rugby Union, where it's based on meeting certain criteria. The eighth-placed club in the Championship getting to the PL? Bring it on!

Ron, Hayling: Money, Money, Money. Players complain about the amount of games they play with the league games and cup competitions so the intention is to play even more at the end of the season. Owners will make some money but that's all that matters!

Barry, Dartford: Yes it's a fantastic for everyone, all the small teams as well as the big boys, to have something to play for. It will give the end of the season something to look forward to.

Benjamin, Poole: I'm a Charlton fan, so it's unlikely we'll come 8th in the Championship any time soon, however, this is ridiculous. More pandering to Americans to make it more likely they'll make money, which is the only thing they care about. Sporting integrity out of the window again. Shame as I felt the Championship was the last bastion of quality and integrity combined. Game has gone.

Broughton, Derby: Absolute ridiculous, put it back to the old days of three straight up, no play-offs. If you don't make top-three you don't deserve to go up.

Julian, London: The worst decision from a footballing point of view ever! The National League teams have been trying to change their system to be like the current EFL system so it seems a very strange decision for the EFL to take. You can finish 8th after 46 games and still get promoted - sporting integrity has been totally lost with this decision. Money over integrity every time!

Image source, PA Media

Blackburn boss Michael O'Neill claims they must become more durable after they lost their second successive game despite taking the lead.

Rovers faded badly in the second half at Derby after leading at the interval to lose 3-1, although they still remain four points and a place above the Championship drop zone.

O'Neill, who has won two and lost two of his first four games, told BBC Radio Lancashire: "We played very well in the first half, I thought.

"We dealt with the long balls, picked up a lot of second balls and we played some really good football in the first half. We went in one-nil ahead and I think we were deserving of that.

"Second half, the squad isn't strong, we don't have depth on our squad. And the team that finishes the game is not as strong as the team that starts the game. That's with the injuries we have, the players that we have missing.

"We have players coming in, who haven't played for a while, and we have to manage them through the game, so that's a challenge.

"But we need to develop durability, both individually and collectively. I think as a team, we need to be more durable and we weren't able to do that in the second half."

Andy Bayes
BBC Radio Lancashire Sports Editor

Image source, Getty Images

If the last two matches are anything to go by, it just shows that Michael O'Neill does not possess a magic wand to, in the blink of an eye, solve Blackburn Rovers' serious issues this season.

He will have learned an awful lot so far in his four games. The euphoria of back-to-back wins followed by back-to-back defeats. Granted, six points out of 12 is clearly better than if he had managed four draws so far and remained unbeaten.

At this point of the season, with 11 games to go, you are where you are based on a sizeable body of work. If you have lost pretty much half of your matches to this point, then trouble cannot be far away.

One of O'Neill's biggest headaches is a mounting list of injuries. In his four games so far, he's lost Lewis Miller for the best part of a year with a ruptured Achilles, Sondre Tronstad with a knee problem serious enough to see a surgeon and, in the second half at Derby, Hayden Carter signalled to the bench that his hamstring was tight.

An assessment will be required on Carter, particularly with his history of missing matches. These are three players in the squad you would want available when the battle lines are drawn.

The turning point at Pride Park was very clear. One up at half-time through Carter's header, Andri Gudjohnsen, with time and space in the Derby penalty area, a couple of minutes into the second half, had to do better than fire wide of the keeper's near post.

It was costly in that it should have given Rovers breathing space at 2-0 and, apart from a tame effort from Moussa Baradji, it was the final time Blackburn laid a glove on Derby.

They were no longer at the races and were undone with the help of two ex-players.

Ben Brereton-Diaz was afforded far too much time and space to make it 1-1 and Sam Szmodics struck the post, capitalising on a Eiran Cashin error, with the ball falling for Matt Clarke to make it 2-1 from close range.

Derby's third was horrible to watch as two subs were culpable. A blind pass from Taylor Gardner-Hickman lost possession, Kristi Montgomery lost two individual battles in midfield and, three passes later, Rhian Brewster had settled it with a header.

I asked O'Neill after the match if this sort of performance was a stark reminder of why Rovers find themselves where they are.

His straight-talking response was clear: "Oh, 100%."

I've said a number of times on BBC Radio Lancashire and in this column that I think Rovers will survive the drop if key players stay fit.

I consider those key players to be Balasz Toth, Ryan Alebiosu, Carter, Cashin, Tronstad, Ryoya Morishita and Gudjohnsen. Two of those could be out of the equation for a period of time now.

Adam Forshaw stepped up to play the Tronstad role at Derby and was excellent but was removed on 56 minutes with the score at 1-1. The midfield was never the same without him, but whether he can play the remainder of the games from start to finish is possibly asking too much.

O'Neill was clear in his thoughts on the strength of the squad as it stands.

"Second half, the squad isn't strong; we don't have depth in our squad," he said. "And the team that finishes the game is not as strong as the team that starts the game. That's with the injuries we have and the players that we have missing.

"We have players coming in who haven't played for a while, and we have to manage them through the game, so that's a challenge.

"But we need to develop durability, both individually and collectively. I think as a team, we need to be more durable, and we weren't able to do that in the second half."

The next two games could be season-defining. Portsmouth at home, followed by Oxford away. Losing both right now feels unthinkable.

Image source, Coventry City FC

You might not hear the old terrace refrain of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' as often as you used to, but it still has a better ring than 'the shirt's not fit for you to wear'.

Championship leaders Coventry City launched a new collection on Friday, proudly taking inspiration from a kit widely dubbed the 'Worst of All Time'.

A take on the club's infamous brown change strip worn away from Highfield Road from 1978 to 1981, the modern reinvention features what the club calls "a deeper chocolate plum colour with sky blue elements".

Many would suggest it sounds tastier than it looks.

But it's got us thinking... what are actually the worst EFL kits of all time? Let us know which of your club's shirts is hiding in the back of the wardrobe, or even if they were too ugly for you to even part money for them.

We'll collate a list of the biggest eyesores and will give you the chance to vote on the ghastliest of all next week.

Click here to let us know your suggestion, and you can even attach a picture if you really want to convey the horror.

Blackburn Rovers will aim to further the gap between themselves and the bottom three as they head to Derby County on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

Rovers will not have to worry about re-entering the relegation zone this weekend with a four point lead on 22nd place Leicester City, however a second consecutive loss could see them back in the mix.

While Derby will be hoping to get back into the play-off race, with two successive losses sending them six points adrift of sixth placed Wrexham.

• Derby are looking to complete their first league double over Blackburn since 2014-15, while they're looking to win three in a row against Rovers for the first time since December 2001.

• Blackburn have lost their last two league games against Derby, more than they had in their previous 11 against the Rams (W9 D1 L1).

• Derby have scored at least once in each of their last 14 home league games, though they've gone on to win just five of these (D5 L4).

• Blackburn won 3-1 at QPR in their last away league game, ending a seven game winless run on the road (D3 L4).

• Since joining the club in January, Mathias Jorgensen has scored three of Blackburn's four away goals in the Championship.

Blackburn Rovers midfielder Sondre Tronstad is a major doubt for Saturday's Championship match at Derby County.

The 30-year-old was forced off at half-time of Tuesday's 2-1 home defeat by Bristol City.

"He came off with a bit of a knee injury so is a major doubt at the moment," Blackburn head coach Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"He's still being assessed but he couldn't get through the game and we'll see how he goes over the next 48 hours."

Tronstad has only missed five of Rovers' 34 league games this season and is in his third campaign with the club.

"He's an experienced player and in the short space of time I've been here I've been impressed by his character and level of play so we 'll have to see how he goes over the next period of time, but he's a loss to the squad," added O'Neill.

Blackburn are currently 20th in the Championship, four points clear of the relegation zone.

Listen to more Blackburn Rovers interviews and content on BBC Sounds.

Andy Bayes
BBC Radio Lancashire sports editor

Image source, Shutterstock

Six minutes into Blackburn's clash with Bristol City, you could be forgiven for thinking that Michael O'Neill was on the way to a dream start of three wins out of three and the road to recovery was well and truly on course.

Yuki Ohashi scored against the Robins for the fourth time in three games, smashing home a cross from the right from Ryoya Morishita, but that only served to spring City into life.

It is important to give great credit to Gerhard Struber and his team. They were quicker to the ball and better on the ball. They scored twice before the interval and on another night they could have had a penalty or even two.

Food for thought for O'Neill, who was clear in his first-half assessment.

"We didn't compete, first of all, I didn't think. We didn't get pressure on the ball high enough up the pitch. We didn't win enough second balls," he told me after the game.

O'Neill also used the word "flat" to describe his side in the first 45 minutes and he was spot on.

Hayden Carter will be disappointed with his clearance which led to an equaliser from Emil Riis and Sean McLoughlin didn't cover himself in glory for the second goal scored by Scott Twine.

Riis led the line really well. His movement in the channels was intelligent, his link-up play was impressive. Horvat and Twine in the 'two number tens' roles equally showing their qualities.

You could tell Rovers were off the pace when Sondre Tronstad made way at half-time. An injury picked up two games earlier at QPR was a contributing factor.

At 2-1, the chance was always there to get back in to the game and on another night they could actually have won the game.

Ohashi and Moussa Baradji, with one of the final kicks of the game, were denied by the impressive Radek Vitek in the City goal. Subs Dion De Neve and Andri Gudjohnsen really ought to have done better with chances that came their way.

O'Neill has been keen to stress that victories won't be euphoric and defeats won't be devastating.

Draws for Leicester and West Brom mean it wasn't a disaster in terms of the Championship table. Rovers have moved a point closer to the drop zone, but earlier in the evening it was looking like it could have been more.

Next up, a trip to Derby and a reunion with former boss John Eustace and potentially up to five Rovers old boys. The Rams have lost three of their past four league games but undoubtedly will be tough opposition.

Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill said his side were made to pay for a "disappointing" first half in their 2-1 home defeat by Bristol City.

Rovers took an early lead through Yuki Ohashi but trailed at the break and ultimately fell to a first loss since O'Neill took charge earlier this month.

"We're disappointed with the result and we're disappointed with how we played in the first half as well," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"We just didn't seem to get to grips with them in the first 30-35 minutes, despite scoring a really good goal which I thought we would kick on from and we didn't.

"We didn't compete first of all, we didn't get pressure on the ball high enough up the pitch and we didn't win enough second balls and when we did we turned it over. We constantly put ourselves under pressure.

"I thought the reaction was good in the second half. We're disappointed not to take something from the game but there are positives from the second half.

"We threw everything we had available from an attacking sense on the pitch tonight but it just wasn't enough to find an equaliser."

Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill said his players will have "a clean sheet" to impress him - but not to expect too many wholesale changes.

One player benefitting under O'Neill's short reign so far is defender Harry Pickering, who has played both games under the Northern Irishman despite seeing limited game time earlier in the season.

However, fans will likely not being seeing a huge shift in personnel when the side host Bristol City on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

"The first thing I said to the players when I came in is that there is a clean sheet," O'Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"I had a chat with him [Pickering] and he understands that the Championship is about churning it out, about being robust, and he's given us a lot in the two games we've had so far.

"I know the other players on the outside are desperate to do that as well but I don't know the players well enough to be able to just chop and change the team and have comfort in doing that.

"Week by week, game by game, the players will earn our trust that little bit more."

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Image source, Opta

Blackburn will seek to put more ground between themselves and the Championship relegation zone when they host Bristol City on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

Rovers are five points clear of the drop-zone after a dramatic derby win over Preston on Friday, their second straight victory, and have lost just two of their past nine at Ewood Park, earning 13 points.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Swansea saw the Robins slip to 12th, though still within four points of the play-off spots in a tightly-packed table.

City have won just one of their past five away games to earn four points and failed to score in three of those.

• Following their 1-0 win in November, Blackburn are looking to complete a first league double over Bristol City since 2019/20.

• Bristol City have lost their past two away league games against Blackburn, last losing more consecutive visits to Ewood Park between 1957 and 1967 (4).

• Blackburn have won three of their past five league games against Bristol City (L2), more than they had in their previous 13 (W2 D5 L6).

• Blackburn have won just one of their past nine midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) home league games (D3 L5), though it came in their most recent encounter against Sheffield Wednesday earlier this month.

• Bristol City have won just one of their past six midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D2 L3), beating Portsmouth 5-0 on New Year's Day.

Lindsey Lewis
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

What a night - the sort of night any football fan lives for. I adored everything about Friday evening.

A busy Ewood Park under the lights for a game against local rivals - it wasn't always pretty but it didn't need to be. What it was, was 11 men playing in their correct positions, working together and working hard for each other. The work rate of many of the players, including the returning Harry Pickering, was exceptional.

At this stage, and with our current league position, it is about results. That being said, as the teams went in at half-time, I uttered: "I enjoyed that" - not something I've been able to say at home often this season.

As the game wore on Preston weren't without their chances, but then again nor were Rovers. It looked like a 0-0 draw would be the outcome, but a moment of brilliance from Eiran Cashin and a wonderful header from Yuki Ohashi sent the stadium into raptures, and me somewhere between feeling like I was going to pass out or vomit.

I couldn't be more delighted for Yuki. He is everything you could want in a player and a person representing your club. He has looked exhausted recently, but the substitute appearances seem to be allowing him to get back to his best.

The celebrations at the end will live long in the memory, and I truly hope they were another boost for the team heading into the final games of the season. We are, without doubt, in a relegation scrap, but have created a little bit of distance between us and the teams below us.

In just over a week Michael O'Neill has created a sense of cohesion, anticipation and hope. He seems to understand both the assignment and the fanbase, and his tenure has got off to the perfect start. Long may that continue.

Adam Cottier
BBC Radio 5 Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Michael O'Neill lost his footing as he celebrated, lost in the raw emotion of a last- minute winner against local rivals Preston North End.

"Messy" was the way he described his leap for joy. That was once a word that could have been attributed to this Blackburn team he has inherited. Not now.

Prior to this game - O'Neill's first home game in charge - Blackburn had lost half of their 16 home league games.

Relegation felt a distinct possibility before his arrival, but Blackburn already appear to have found their footing under this new leadership after two wins out of two.

Blackburn's fans had craved a goal like Yuki Ohashi's extraordinary last-minute winner with the stakes so high. It was vindication for sticking by their team in times of trouble amid some joyless games this season.

The celebrations that followed his header underlined what it meant - scenes not seen at Ewood Park for some time. When the goalkeeper sprints the full length of the pitch to celebrate, you know it is a seismic moment.

One fan said to me afterwards that it had felt like "the Ewood of days gone by".

Rovers had grafted and persevered against a Preston team having their best season for several years. They had looked organised, standing up to the challenge with and without the ball.

As O'Neill put it, they had had to "dig in". In winning so late, you could say they had shown the character and attitude required in a relegation fight. They may be well clear of that fight soon if they continue to show such desire and quality.

Two wins from two is a perfect start for O'Neill, but it will feel like more than that to Rovers' fans. He has so far put some sparkle into the club at a time when they so desperately needed it.

The Northern Ireland manager - in his much-talked-about dual role - will hope the good feeling continues on Tuesday at home to Bristol City.

"I know what a fantastic home crowd this can be," said O'Neill, whose wife and daughter were also in attendance on Friday night.

Andy Bayes
BBC Radio Lancashire, sport editor

Image source, Getty Images

Three wins out of four for Blackburn Rovers, two out of two for the new boss and a local derby double for the season with a winner in the final minute of added-on time. Ewood Park feels like a different place all of a sudden.

Friday's 1-0 victory saw them move six points clear of the relegation places, and it's a firm 'over to you' to the other clubs down there this weekend.

As we get ever closer to the final dozen league games of the season, it's never going to be a given that the football on show is going to always be easy on the eye.

For long periods, Blackburn and Preston slogged it out for territory with largely defences on top. Two teams occupying similar systems trying to find that moment of quality that, in the end, took one of the last moments of the match to find.

The BBC match stats confirm that both goalkeepers made two saves each over the piece. But Rovers were certainly the more proactive after half-time. It was more a case of the final ball just not being quite right, which meant this game looked destined to be a goalless draw.

The winner was a flash of inspiration from a player who has had his fair share of stick this season. Yuki Ohashi is everything a football fan wants from a player. With a tireless work rate, chasing down lost causes, he's a real team player – but far too much has been expected of him this season due to issues with other strikers.

He had been running on empty for weeks after 21 successive league starts, leading the line for a side struggling to create much.

Three substitute appearances in the past four games look like it's helping to bring the freshness back. The way he took a couple of steps back, watching a high-hanging cross to guide a header into Dai Cornell's far corner, was the mark of a striker finding his touch again. It's only his third goal since early November, but such a crucial one.

Michael O'Neill has employed a 4-4-2 and a 3-5-2 in his first two games.

There doesn't seem to be an overcomplicated plan. He's selected players in arguably their best position and it's reaped rewards. He'll know his work is far from done, but watching them, it's pretty clear to me that Rovers have a nucleus of players that, if they stay fit, I think they'll have enough to be ok.

If they can choose Toth, Alebiosu, Carter, Cashin, Tronstad, Morishita and Gudjohnsen for all or the majority of the remaining games, that's enough quality to start with. Then they can worry about how many of that select group will be part of the plan going forward.

O'Neill is only in the hotseat until the season ends, but his first two matches back as a Championship manager must have whetted his appetite to make it a more permanent arrangement.

Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill spoke to BBC Radio Lancashire after his side's 1-0 win over Preston North End:

"I'd have loved us to play scintillating football and be 3-0 up at half-time but it was never going to be that kind of game.

"We had to dig deep and I thought [in the] second half we shaded the game, I thought probably Preston shaded the first half.

"[In the] Second half I thought we did a lot of good things. We had other opportunities we possibly could have done a little better with.

"The game did look like it was going to drift to a 0-0, but that's why you dig in and you keep doing what you do, and obviously Yuki [Ohashi] comes up with a fantastic header and it's a great way to win the game."