Blackburn 1-3 Everton - Jelavic Double Sinks Rovers, Roberto Martinez "Delighted" [Video]
A Nikica Jelavic double condemned Blackburn Rovers to their third consecutive pre-season game without a win as Everton ran out 3-1 winners at Ewood Park yesterday afternoon. The Croatia international, on as a half time substitute, added to Kevin Mirallas' opening goal in the first half and ended the game as a contest with a second, and Everton's third, late on. Rovers pulled one back with minutes to spare as Scott Dann nodded in from close range after getting onto the end of Morten Gamst Pedersen's corner, but it was scant consolation. Despite the result, it was the hosts that started the brighter of the two teams and Chris Taylor might have given Blackburn an early lead, but could only head over the bar after popping up unmarked to latch onto the end of Alan Judge's whipped cross. Everton soon responded as the lively Ross Barkley saw his shot parried out for a corner by keeper Jake Kean, but nothing came of the resulting set-piece. Still, the Toffee's started to grow into the game and Mirallas, a constant threat for Roberto Martinez' side, raced through the defence but saw his effort deflected for another corner, from which Barkley headed over. Rovers were happy to sit back and allow Everton to come forward while playing on the counter attack while the visitors played at a slow tempo and patiently maintained possession without creating too many chances in the early proceedings. Arouna Kone, making his debut following his summer switch from Wigan, looked dangerous while Barkley was a consistent thorn in the side of Gary Bowyer's men, and the England U21 international again saw Kean keep out another testing drive. But Rovers couldn't keep Everton out for long and it was Mirallas who prodded home on the 25 minute mark after Barkley's low shot was cleared off the line, but only as far as the Belgian, who duly slotted home. Martinez' side should have been two up at the interval after Kone was put through one on one with the keeper, but the Ivorian saw his shot cannon off the crossbar, hit Kean's back and drift out for a corner. The second half was more of the same for Everton as they continued to pile on the pressure and you never got the sense that Rovers were about to get back into the game. Darren Gibson saw his effort from way out fail to trouble the keeper while substitute's Seamus Coleman and Steven Naismith combined to earn Everton a corner shortly after the restart. Following Steven Pienaar's resulting set-piece, Jelavic rose higher than anyone else to nod in Everton's second in the 55th minute, appearing to put the game out of Blackburn's reach. The Premier League side continued to dominate and Jelavic came close to adding a third, but after getting on the end of Colemans cross, saw his effort smartly saved by Kean. The Toffee's weren't to be denied a third goal however and it was that man Jelavic on the scoresheet again. The striker first squandered from close range as Kean parried his drive but made no mistake the second time as he slammed home the rebound to make it three without reply with 78 minutes played. Rovers would give the home support some cheer however when Dann nodded in at the near post five minutes from time but it was too little, too late as Blackburn ended their pre-season campaign with defeat. After the game, we interviewed Everton manager Roberto Martinez, who said:
"I'm delighted with their attitude. When you've got this bunch of players we've got in our dressing room you can work toward anything, I was very very pleased with that, I know they are really really disappointed in the dressing room to concede a goal from set-play really late but apart from that, I thought we're getting stronger and better in certain aspects of our play."Asked about the Toffee's mouth-watering clash against Italian champions Juventus on July 31, Martinez added:
"It's a phenomenal games program to play Juventus and the other... cup winners, if you want, around world football, is exciting."Joseph Dempsey was reporting from Ewood Park.