Blackburn secured their first point of the new season as they hung on to claim a 1-1 draw away at Fulham who came from behind to take a share of the spoils.
Both goals came in the first half at Craven Cottage with Bobby Zamora snatching a well deserved point for the hosts after Ruben Rochina had given Rovers the lead with a stunning strike.
Martin Jol chose to start £10.6 million man Bryan Ruiz up front for the Cottagers whilst Steve Kean opted to leave his new men Yakubu and Simon Vukcevic on he bench although deadline day signing Scott Dann did make his debut.
The Costa Rican struggled up against Rovers’ new man in a dire first half that was low on quality until Rochina stepped up to open the scoring with an absolute thunderbolt. Junior Hoilett found the Spaniard from the left who took a touch before lashing the ball past Mark Schwarzer.
But they could only hold onto the lead for six minutes as Zamora controlled Danny Murphys pass in the area and steered the ball home after evading a weak challenge from Gael Givet.
Ruiz was replaced by Moussa Dembele at the break and that seemed to invigorate Fulham as they controlled the second half and should have took all three points.
Murphy and Clint Dempsey both had efforts saved by Paul Robinson whilst stout defending from Givet prevented Zamora from doubling his and the home sides tally towards the end of the half.
It will be a welcome first point of the campaign for Kean and his side who avoided the embarrassment of being the first Blackburn side to lose their first four league games since 1888.
Remember you can catch all the action from today’s action here courtesy of ESPN Goals.
