Blackburn’s woes in front of goal continued as they could only draw 0-0 with Millwall.
In what was a frustrating evening, their well-documented goal shortage became apparent yet again as they could not make domination over the Lions count, spurning glorious chances that fell the way of Joe Rankin-Costello and Sam Gallagher in the first half.
For all their supremacy, Rovers did not test the Millwall goalkeeper enough and when they did, Bartosz Bialkowski came to his side’s rescue with one wonderful second-half save from John Buckley.
Ultimately it was an opportunity missed for Blackburn, who failed to make ground on the top two and will also be looking nervously over their shoulder at the play-off chasers. They have now won once in the last eight games, scoring just a solitary goal in that time.
Millwall did not have a single shot in the game but their resilience under sustained pressure at times will have pleased Gary Rowett, whose side are not out of the top six reckoning and are only four points away after a sixth game without defeat.
Rovers were without the influential Reda Khadra through injury but recalled Joe Rothwell and Buckley as part of four changes. Millwall named an unchanged XI.
The hosts were soon into their stride and a neat one-two split the visitors’ defence in the 16th minute but with the goal at his mercy, Rankin-Costello pulled his shot wide of the far post.
Blackburn’s pace unsettled their obdurate opponents and Buckley was given too much time to turn midway through the half, advancing towards the box before whipping a low shot goalwards that deceived Bialkowski and shaved the post before going behind.
Another huge Blackburn chance came and went with six minutes of the half remaining when Gallagher ghosted in at the far post to meet a wonderful Buckley cross but diverted the ball wide of the post from close range.
Despite their first-half dominance, Rovers had not really worked the goalkeeper but that changed six minutes after the restart when Ryan Giles crossed for Buckley, whose close-range effort was magnificently parried by Bialkowski. From the resulting corner Darragh Lenihan wasted a free header, powering over the crossbar.
Rovers put together a sustained spell of pressure that felt like it would lead to an inevitable goal but Millwall held firm and frustrated their hosts, who clipped the bar late on through Scott Wharton’s looping header. It feels like the return of Ben Brereton Diaz cannot come soon enough for Rovers.
