Bradley Dack, a player whose career has been seriously hampered by injuries in recent times, enjoyed a large slice of luck as he claimed the goal that maintains Blackburn Rovers’ extraordinary campaign.
Blackburn have now completed 31 league games without a draw, a run going back to April. Under Jon Dahl Tomasson this season, their record reads: played 26, won 14, lost 12. The only thing “level” about their campaign is their goal difference of zero. All of which explains why, despite a dozen losses already — a figure on a par with teams in the relegation zone — Blackburn find themselves in third place.
Yet, Tomasson was close to his first draw in English football management and might have recorded it but for some good fortune. Three minutes into the second half, in a rare flowing move, the impressive Jake Garrett found Ben Brereton Díaz on the left and his quick pass to Dack, just inside the area, was followed by a shot which diverted off Jack Simpson on its way into the Cardiff City goal.
Brereton Díaz, the Chile forward, has, understandably, attracted plenty of attention in recent times, not least from some interested Premier League parties, but Dack is, in many ways, Blackburn’s key man.
In each of the past two seasons the midfielder has sustained a season-ending cruciate knee-ligament injury and, with him, have gone Blackburn’s hopes of reaching the play-offs. It does not seem a reach to expect their fate, once more, to be linked to the fitness of a player who turned 29 on New Year’s Eve.
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“We spoke on Thursday and Bradley was very happy I took him off after 60 minutes because he cannot play three 90 minutes in a week, he’s not there yet,” Tomasson said. “When I arrived in the summer, he hadn’t started a game because he got injured in the pre-season as well.
“Being injured in that terrible way is tough but you can come back, and we’re trying to get him back to the level he was on. He says he is not there yet but hopefully we can manage that and it is great for Bradley to get that goal.”
It was not hard to see how Blackburn might rely so heavily on Dack, given the fine lines that Tomasson’s young side have walked between wins and defeats. Indeed, had Blackburn slumped to loss No 13 yesterday they would have ended the day closer to the drop zone than they were to the runaway leaders Burnley.
“It would be great if we could have turned some of those losses into draws but when you’re a young team, you’re always inconsistent,” Tomasson said. “We’re young, not only in age, but also in regards to minutes in the Championship, or higher, because a lot of players in this league have played at a higher level. Growing up is part of getting better.”
Blackburn could have taken the lead in the second minute had the striker, Sam Gallagher, succeeded in beating Ryan Allsop from long range after capitalising on a defensive error and spotting the goalkeeper off his line. But Cardiff, who have now completed three holiday fixtures and 326 minutes without a goal, gave as good as they got in the first half, with Garrett required to make a brilliant tackle to deny Gavin Whyte and Thomas Kaminski saving well from Callum Robinson’s long-range effort.
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After Brereton Díaz spurned a couple of half-chances to kill off the game, Blackburn were left to weather an anxious finale, with the Cardiff defender Perry Ng miskicking in front of goal and Callum O’Dowda having a looping, stoppage-time header well held by Kaminski.
Blackburn Rovers (4-2-3-1): T Kaminski 6 — J Rankin-Costello 6 (S Wharton 53min, 6), D Ayala 7, D Hyam 6, H Pickering 7 (T Edun 78) — T Morton 6 (A Wharton 88), J Garrett 8 (L Travis 78) — R Hedges 6, B Dack 9, B Brereton Díaz 7 — J Gallagher 7. Booked S Wharton, Garrett, Hedges.
Cardiff City (5-2-2-1): R Allsop 6 — T Sang 6, P Ng 6, C Kipre 6, J Simpson 5 (R Colwill 57, 6), C O’Dowda 7 — J Ralls 7 (S Ojo 57, 5), R Wintle 7 — G Whyte 6 (A Rinomhota 58, 5), C Robinson 5 (I Davies 66, 7) — M Harris 5 (J Philogene 77). Booked Simpson, Harris.
Referee T Bramall.
Attendance 12,499.