Blackburn 1-1 Stoke
by James Nalton
at Ewood Park

BLACKBURN stuttered to a draw against 10-man Stoke on Saturday, but will still be able to take some positives from their display.

The visitors opened the scoring when Nick Powell found space behind Ryan Nyambe and Bradley Johnson to head home Jordan Thompson’s well-delivered corner.

Thompson hit the post himself shortly after, while Thomas Kaminski made an outstanding save from another Powell header.

Stoke went down to 10 men midway through the second half after James Chester brought down Adam Armstrong who was through on goal.

Blackburn’s play had been improving just before that, though, and the equaliser had arrived just before the card through substitute John Buckley — with Liverpool loanee Harvey Elliott getting his seventh assist of the season.

The sending off encouraged Stoke to shut up shop, which they did successfully as Blackburn were unable to make their late pressure count.

The biggest of the few positives for Tony Mowbray’s side was the performance of new centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, who joined the club on loan from Everton last week.

The 18-year-old partnered Rovers captain Darragh Lenihan in the centre of defence and was called into action immediately, winning a header as Stoke launched their first attack.

He was composed on the ball, often getting teammates out of tricky situations by offering to receive passes under pressure.

Branthwaite coped well with the pace of Stoke forwards Rabbi Matondo and Jacob Brown, and looked settled considering he has hardly played this season and only joined the club days earlier.

Stoke dominated much of the game, though, and with an hour gone had far outshot their hosts.

The bobbly Ewood Park pitch didn’t help Blackburn’s style of play, but other positives came through minutes for Lewis Travis and Bradley Dack after both recovered from serious knee injuries, and through the performances of Buckley and Jacob Davenport off the bench.

It was clear to see that Branthwaite will help his new side defensively, but they now need some drive through the middle to reignite an attack which could be among the best in the league.