Soccer

Rovers advance into last four

Blackburn 2 Manchester City 0 : Stuart Pearce heard the Manchester City supporters turn on their team after they exited the …

Sun Mar 11 2007 - 00:00

Blackburn 2 Manchester City 0: Stuart Pearce heard the Manchester City supporters turn on their team after they exited the FA Cup with defeat by Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Cries of "you're not fit to wear the shirt" were aimed at the players as they went to salute the fans at the end of the game. And these are anxious times for City manager Pearce after they suffered their fifth straight defeat.

Blackburn clinched a place in the semi-finals thanks to goals from Aaron Mokoena - who was later sent off - and Matt Derbyshire.

Derbyshire should have put Blackburn ahead in the 26th minute following a cross from David Bentley. The young striker peeled away from his marker only to send his header from a good position over the top.

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Blackburn, though, made the breakthrough two minutes later with Mokoena's first goal for the club after two years and two months at Ewood Park. The South Africa midfielder, who arrived in January 2005, clipped the ball home from close range, although it appeared to take a deflection.

City were guilty of poor defending with Stephen Warnock delivering the cross and McCarthy getting a vital touch before Mokoena supplied the finish.

Hughes brought off Ryan Nelsen at the start of the second as he had been struggling with a hamstring problem and replaced him with Zurab Khizanishvili.

Blackburn kept up the pressure and Derbyshire got in a good header in the 54th minute but Distin made the block.

The game took a dramatic twist in the 69th minute when Mokoena picked up his second yellow card for a challenge on Bernardo Corradi and was sent off.

Vassell took up a good position in the 78th minute but again the finish was poor as City supporters began to voice their displeasure.

Blackburn secured their passage into the semi-finals when Derbyshire scored from close range on the stroke of full time following a cross from substitute Sergio Peter.

Hughes' side became the first team to reach the semi-finals and are again in sight of a place in Europe. For City there is the prospect of difficult games to come against Chelsea and Middlesbrough this week.