Blackburn Rovers and Bristol city share the points at Ewood Park

Photo: Evie Wilkinson for Constancy Sport

Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Bristol City

Points were shared at Ewood Park as Ffion Morgan’s header cancelled out Tyler Toland’s opener. It was an important match for Blackburn Rovers as they look to stay in the league moving forward. 

Bristol City started off the game brightly with both teams having possession in the middle third of the pitch. Blackburn Rovers continued to do well when defending throughout the opening 30 minutes.

Lexi Lloyd-Smith for Bristol City proved vital when crossing the ball in from the corners. Tia Plummer performed brightly for the Rovers side with her putting in plenty of chances in the opening 15 minutes, with Blackburn’s Georgia Walters also playing some excellent balls into the centre. However, they never found the back of the net in the opening stages. 

For Bristol City, Harley Bennett performed well under pressure and tried to get her side in front, but Alex Brooks in the Blackburn goal did well to keep her clean sheet.

The travelling side continued to put in shots from Emily Syme, Lexi Lloyd-Smith and Jamie-Lee Napier but failed to find the opener at Ewood Park. 41 minutes in, Georgia Walters performed an outrageous effort from near enough the halfway point but Bristol City goalkeeper Jackie Burns read it well, scurried back and collected it before she gave away a clean sheet.

Bristol’s Mari Ward looked to find a cross but didn't spot a black shirt in the box and resorted to moving the ball wide. Just before the teams went in, Rachel Dugdale did well to keep her Blackburn side in it with her block to prevent the visitors going ahead. 

Half-time: Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Bristol City 

Blackburn Rovers got the second half underway and started off brightly with Tia Primmer starting the half how she ended. Lexi Lloyd-Smith continued to put in crosses from Bristol with Jamie-Lee Napier putting out an effort for the visitors before Ellie Hack blocked the shot for the home side.

51 minutes on the clock and Blackburn found the opener from Captain Tyler Toland. Her strike from outside the box put the ball into the top corner and put an important strike on the scoresheet as the side look to stay in the Championship. 

There were changes for both sides around the hour mark with Bristol City looking to find the equaliser. Efforts from Mari Ward, Jess Simpson and Lexi Lloyd-Smith failed to find the back of the net but substitute Ffion Morgan got on the scoresheet after just six minutes on the pitch. Her header saw the bottom left corner of the goal after receiving the cross from Sille Struck with 66 minutes on the clock. 

Both sides continued to put in shots as one tried to find a winner with crosses from Blackburn’s Lucy Johnson and Bristol’s Lexi Lloyd-Smith failing to find their own players.

For the final 20 minutes, Bristol City continued to pile on the pressure with efforts from Emily Syme and Jess Simpson both failing to find another player in a black shirt with the Blackburn defence also pressuring the visitors.

10 minutes were added at the end of the 45, but Bristol City and Blackburn both failed to find a winner and it ended all square at Ewood Park. 

Teams: 

Blackburn Rovers: Brooks, Luke, Toland ©, Hack, Noble (Dahou 60’), Williams (Settle 89’), Dugdale, Primmer (Edwards 89’), Walters (Crompton 79’), Johnson, Newell. 

Subs Unused: Soper, Taylor, Clarkson, Couthard, Davies. 

Scorers: Toland (51’) 

Bristol City: Burns, Struck, Bennett, Mustaki (O’Leary 85’), Ward, Meena (Thestrup 59’), Rodgers (Woolley 87’), Napier © (Simpson 59’), Syme, Teisar (Morgan 59’), Lloyd-Smith. 

Subs Unused: Stowell, Powell. 

Scorers: Morgan (66’) 

Yellow Cards: Bennett (99’)