Former Blue Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede netted second half goals condemned the Blues to a 2-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers. After an evenly-balanced first half, Town, who are now ninth, five points off the play-offs, never looked like getting anything from the game after Rhodes had opened the scoring in the 64th minute, Gestede adding the second with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Anthony Wordsworth and Frank Nouble were recalled to the Town starting line-up with Stephen Hunt dropping to the bench and Paul Anderson out of the 18.
Nouble began on the left with Wordsworth on the right and Jonny Williams behind lone striker Daryl Murphy.
Lee Williamson hit a weak first-minute strike through to Dean Gerken but the Blues had the better of the opening minutes with Williams seeing a lot of the ball. On seven the Wales international sent over a cross which Murphy shot well over on the turn.
There was a scare for the Blues on 17 when Christophe Berra made an uncharacteristic error and surrendered possession to Gestede midway inside the Town half on the Blackburn left. Craig Conway broke forward but Smith was on hand to cut out his cross.
The home side were beginning to get on top and in the 19th minute Gerken claimed Corry Evans’s flick goalwards. Then, after Nouble had cheaply given the ball away, the Northern Irishman broke in from the right and his low shot was deflected wide.
Nouble whipped a low ball over from the left but too far in front of Murphy in the 25th minute, then three minutes later Williams sent in an even better cross but the Irishman’s header flew over.
Tom Cairney curled a 25-yard strike into Gerken’s arms just past the half-hour mark, then on 32 Gestede shot powerfully over from distance.
Five minutes later Wordsworth picked up the game’s first booking for a foul on Tommy Spurr on the Rovers left. From the freekick, Michael Keane flicked Conway’s freekick to Gerken’s left and the keeper did well to get down to scramble it away from goal.
It was Town’s turn to threaten next, Wordsworth sending Murphy away down the left with a superb pass. The striker cut it back to Aaron Cresswell, whose strike was blocked, then the loose ball fell to Williams but his shot was saved by Paul Robinson.
Blackburn felt they ought to have been awarded a penalty in the 43rd minute when Berra appeared to push Gestede over as a freekick came into the box. The home side might have had a case, although Berra himself appeared to have been inadvertently nudged into the ex-Cardiff man by Smith as a crowd of players went for the same ball.
Skuse shot over just before the fourth official’s board revealed two minutes of additional time at the end of an evenly balanced first half.
Both sides had had spells on top and a few opportunities with the Blues at their most dangerous when Williams was involved. Overall, the level scoreline was a fair reflection of the half as a whole.
Five minutes after the restart Chambers was booked somewhat harshly for blocking off Conway on the Blackburn left.
On 55 Nouble headed Williams into space inside the Town half following the second of two Blackburn corners. The on-loan Palace man took the ball on into Blackburn territory, sent the ball one side of last defender Evans and went the other himself. However, the 20-year-old went too wide and directed his shot across the face of goal. Regardless of the ultimate outcome it was quite some break.
Town were starting to look the more threatening side and on the hour Nouble hit a powerful shot from distance which Robinson pushed away. Moments later, Chambers exchanged passes with Williams on the edge of the box but the Blues’ skipper’s effort was too close to the Rovers keeper, who claimed.
At the other end, after Matthew Kilgallon had been booked for a foul on Williams, Conway shot over, Gestede having laid the ball back to him on the 18-yard line. Soon after, Williamson added his name to referee Keith Stroud’s book for pulling back Williams.
Despite the Blues having had more of the second half, the visitors went in front in the 64th minute and inevitably it was former Town man Rhodes who was on target.
Gestede cleverly turned Grant Hanley's long ball into Rhodes’s path and the striker got behind his close friend Tommy Smith before hitting a low shot to Gerken’s left and into the net. It was the Scotland international’s third goal in three games against his old club and his 50th in the league for Rovers.
Coincidentally, former Blues boss Roy Keane, the man who controversially sold Rhodes to Huddersfield for a fee which ultimately rose to just above £1 million in the summer of 2009, was watching from the stand as he ran the rule over Daryl Murphy in his capacity as Republic of Ireland assistant manager.
Blackburn went looking for a quick second, Gestede forcing a corner from which Cairney eventually shot over from the edge of the box.
Town had been unable to get back into the game after conceding and in the 73rd minute Sylvan Ebanks-Blake replaced Wordsworth, who had found it difficult to make an impression in his unfamiliar role. Ebanks-Blake took up a position in the centre of a front three with Nouble on his left and Murphy the right.
Gestede, who was giving Berra a tough afternoon, should have made it 2-0 in the 77th minute but shot over after latching onto Rhodes’s overhead kick from Spurr’s cross from the left.
But with 10 minutes remaining Gestede did increase his team’s lead. Conway sent over a freekick from close to the corner on the right and the Benin international battled through a crowd of players to nod his seventh goal of the season past Gerken.
Town had never looked like getting back in the game having gone behind and they looked even less so after Blackburn’s second. On 86 Stephen Hunt replaced Williams, who looked to have tired after a lively first hour.
In the closing stages Cairney shot wide, then struck one of his own players with another effort from the edge of the box just prior to referee Stroud’s final whistle.
After the even first period, it was a disappointing second half from Town, who never looked like getting anything from the match having gone behind to Rhodes’s predictable and well-worked goal.
Mick McCarthy is unlikely to be impressed with conceding the second from a set piece and that his team failed to show their recent proclivity for comebacks on this occasion.
The result and today's scorelines elsewhere see the Blues drop to ninth, five points behind Reading in the final play-off spot with six games left to play.
Blackburn: Robinson, Keane, Hanley (c), Kilgallon, Spurr, Cairney, Evans (Varney 78), Williamson (Etuhu 90), Conway, Gestede (Dunn 83), Rhodes. Unused: Eastwood, King, Taylor, Feeney.
Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Cresswell, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Hyam (Green 90), Wordsworth (Ebanks-Blake 73), Nouble, Williams (Hunt 86), Murphy. Unused: Loach, Mings, Tabb, Richardson. Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire). Att: 13,281 (Town: 635).