please log in to view this image Round 1 Blackburn Rovers 1 – 4 Norwich City FT HT 0 – 3 Attendance: 12,641 Date: Saturday 6th August 2016 Venue: Ewood Park Kick-Off: 03:00PM KIO's not606 Match Preview Saturday sees Alex Neil’s Norwich City side travel to Lancashire to take on Blackburn Rovers in Round 1 of the Sky BET Championship. Still smarting from relegation the Canaries will hope to hit the ground running in their opening fixture and come away with three valuable points. However Ewood Park has never been a happy hunting ground for City they have only managed to win there on two occasions. Blackburn boss Owen Coyle will be hoping that winger Craig Conway is fit for the visit of Norwich, the 31-year-old having missed the last fortnight nursing a thigh problem. New signing from Brighton Gordon Greer could feature in defence for Rovers after a successful trial but in truth will probably find himself on the bench. please log in to view this image Gordon Greer puts pen to paper at Rovers Centre-back Shane Duffy and midfielder Ben Marshall, who are both entering the last twelve months of their contracts should start for Blackburn and it is expected that they are soon to be offered new deals at Ewood Park. The Canaries may well hand a debut to new signing Alex Pritchard, the attacking midfielder having just completed a move from Tottenham Hotspur. Another of Alex Neil’s close season signings Sergi Canos could also be involved following his £2.5M transfer from Liverpool, although it is doubtful he will make the starting eleven. please log in to view this image Alex Pritchard City Captain Russell Martin hasn’t featured in recent pre season games having been troubled by a back problem so is unlikely to feature, Swiss international central defender Timm Klose will make a welcome return to the heart of the Canaries defence and will most likely be partnered at the back with Ryan Bennett. It had been widely anticipated in some quarters that new arrival Michael McGovern would be custodian for this one but I would expect City boss Alex Neil to give John Ruddy the nod here. Owen Coyle’s Match Preview please log in to view this image New Blackburn boss Owen Coyle gives his thoughts “I think it’s a fantastic start to bring Norwich City, who will be one of the big, big favourites to go back to the Premier League straight away,” he said. “Alex Neil is someone I know very well from my time in the game, but for me, everything is about Blackburn Rovers” “It’s about having that first game at home in the league against a very good side, a side who felt they were hard done by to come out of the Premier League. “So of course it will be a tough game, but it’s a great game to look forward to, it’s exciting and we want to get the Blackburn Rovers fans excited about next season and games like that certainly help to do that.” Alex Neil's Match Preview Alex Neil looks ahead to tomorrow's game Current Form (Last 5 Competitive Fixtures – Most Recent First) Blackburn Rovers WWDDL BLACKBURN HOME Blackburn have won 40%, drawn 30% and lost 30% of their last 20 home games. In their last 20 home games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, Blackburn have won 12, drawn 6 and lost 2 of these matches. Norwich City LWLLL NORWICH AWAY Norwich have won 20%, drawn 10% and lost 70% of their last 20 away games. In their last 20 away games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, Norwich have won 8, drawn 3 and lost 9 of these matches. In their last 20 away games against teams positioned above them in the table, Norwich have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 14 of these matches. MATCH STATISTICS www.kickoff.co.uk Match History Historically Blackburn have the upper hand over Norwich in competitive fixtures with 17 wins to City's 11, there have been 10 drawn games. Norwich have only ever won twice at Ewood Park, on 18th August 1993 in a Premier League encounter they overcame Rovers by 3 goals to 2 and in the last meeting between the two on 24th February 2015 they beat Rovers by 2 goals to one in a Championship match up. The Canaries have been well beaten on more than one occasion in the away fixture, 5-3 in Division Two (2nd tier) on 4th September 1937, 6-0 also in Division Two (2nd tier) on 3rd December 1938 and 7-1 in the Premier League on 3rd October 1992. Norwich's best win over Blackburn was way back on 8th April 1939 just before the outbreak of WWII when they beat Rovers 4-0 at Carrow Road. Highest Blackburn Rovers Score Blackburn Rovers 7 Norwich City 1 Highest Norwich City Score Norwich City 4 Blackburn Rovers 0 Highest Aggregate (8) Blackburn Rovers 7 Norwich City 1 Blackburn Rovers 5 Norwich City 3 Club Connections Quite a few and here are some of the most notable: CRAIG BELLAMY Played for both City and Rovers ELLIOTT BENNETT Left Carrow Road for Rovers in January 2016 MARK BOWEN City stalwart who was assistant manager at Ewood Park please log in to view this image Mark Bowen in his City playing days MARK BUNN City's former understudy to John Ruddy was signed from Rovers. ASA HARTFORD A Milk Cup winner with City, was a coach at Blackburn between 1991 and 1992 ALAN IRVINE Current City Coach was both player and Manager for Blackburn SIMEON JACKSON Diminutive former City forward made 17 appearances for Blackburn in 2016 PAUL LAMBERT One of City’s most successful Managers had a brief spell at the helm with Rovers MARTIN OLSSON Current Canaries left back was signed from Blackburn in July 2013 ANTHONY PILKINGTON Former Canaries winger was with Rovers as a youngster TIM SHERWOOD Left Norwich for Blackburn in 1991 and was Kenny Dalglish's first signing as Rovers’ manager CHRIS SUTTON Left Norwich for Blackburn for a then British record fee of £5M and subsequently went on to win the Premier League title with Rovers please log in to view this image The 'SAS' hold the Premier League trophy aloft in 1995 ASHLEY WARD Former City Striker joined Blackburn on Christmas Day 1998 from Barnsley ELLIOTT WARD Ex City defender who, along with his former Canaries team mate Elliott Bennett, signed for Blackburn in January 2016 TEAM LINE UPS: please log in to view this image Listen to full match commentary on BBC Radio Norfolk 95.1 / 95.6 / 104.4FM, 855 / 873 kHz AM & DAB Digital Radio With Chris Goreham please log in to view this image and Guest Match Summariser Mark Rivers please log in to view this image ....... and don’t forget to tune in to ‘Canary Call’ post match with Rob Butler and Mark OT please log in to view this image C
Good work KIO!! I'm pretty nervous about tomorrow. I can't see where the goals would come from, and can't see us keeping a clean sheet. Maybe a 1-1.
"In their last 20 home games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, Blackburn have won 12, drawn 6 and lost 2 of these matches. In their last 20 home games against teams positioned below them in the table, Blackburn have won 12, drawn 6 and lost 2 of these matches." Is that what you meant to say bor? Seems like something of a repeat when you then look at us Canaries its above and below. Bah!
Thanks FML, I've been on holiday this week so I've had plenty of time to compose this, I can't promise a thread like this for 46+ games this season I'm afraid.
I've only been once to Ewood park- 2 seasons ago and went home happy after johnson's winner late on in the match. Hope to keep the 100% record going- First game of the season is always exciting (well the anticipation and the beers before the game are always good)
we haven't traditionally faired to well against them, but we are currently the bigger, better financed Fish in the pond, speaking of Fish, try the Chip inn long stratton, it's ruddy mavellous! I actually think there is goals in our team, players like Wes, Pritchard and even Jerome are gonna do well in this division. Not to say I wouldn't like another striker or two, but we have quality, as I said on the prediction thread CanJam hatrick 3-0 City COYY Bah!
Haha. You tit! Do you think Pritchard would go straight into the starting 11? I'm not sure if he will. I'd like to see him start though.
The MDTs didn't bring us much luck last season, KIO - here's hoping for better fortunes this time around
I am guessing non-Norfolk based supporters can listen here Nice to have some football to talk about at long last and even better to have a KIO MD special
Something I forgot to mention in the OP is that we have failed to win on the opening day for the last THIRTEEN seasons! Still feeling confident lads?
Why can't you listen to live coverage on radio Norfolk if you don't live in Norfolk ? It actually cuts out after build up .
