Blackburn's obsession with keeping clean sheets continued with a goalless draw at home to Manchester City but they had referee Chris Foy to thank for this shut-out.

The match official infuriated City players by turning down two penalty appeals, the first of which especially was clear-cut when Shaun Wright-Phillips was felled by Dominic Matteo.

Instead Blackburn held out for their seventh clean sheet in eight league games, a run that has taken them into a comfortable mid-table position in the Premiership.

But they will not have won any more friends with their safety-first approach to the game, a cautious 4-5-1 formation that has earned them success and criticism in almost equal measure since the turn of the year.

City, not surprisingly, tried to funnel most of their play through the influential Wright-Phillips and it took a well-timed Ryan Nelsen tackle early on to thwart the England winger.

This looked to be a game where one mistake could prove crucial and Sylvain Distin and Richard Dunne were almost caught out chatting to themselves by Brad Friedel's quickly-taken goal-kick, but the wind took the ball away from Jon Stead and into David James' grateful arms.

Lucas Neill then stretched to reach a half-volley that skimmed a couple of yards wide of the post.

Robbie Fowler tried an ambitious chip after robbing Aaron Mokoena but failed to find the height to beat Friedel, then Joey Barton screwed his drive wide from 25 yards when a pass to the unmarked Wright-Phillips seemed the obvious option.

In the main though, quality moves were at a premium as Blackburn, a much more impressive destructive than creative force, squeezed out City's attempts at establishing a passing game.

Finally flair broke through the cloud of negativity. Mokoena charged forward in possession and found Stead on the edge of the area who held off Distin brilliantly before striking a curving left-foot shot that missed the post by a whisker.

Then came that City penalty appeal when Wright-Phillips was caught by Matteo as he ran onto Nedum Onuoha's ball into the box, but referee Foy, who had a clear view, for some baffling reason waved play-on.

A good City free-kick move saw Kiki Musampa power a header across goal but Dunne could only flick it onto the top of the net.

City did get the ball in the net after a corner bounced off Morten Gamst Pedersen but Antoine Sibierski was penalised for a push.

The second half began in positively urgent fashion compared to the tame affair of the first 45 minutes.

Pedersen's quick long throw then saw Stead break clear of Dunne but the City defender managed to do enough to block his shot at the expense of a corner.

Another long throw by the Norwegian saw Blackburn come close to taking the lead when Matteo's volley took a deflection to wrongfoot James and the City keeper only just managed to scramble the ball off his goal-line as Stead slid in.

Having held off a series of Blackburn attacks City began to force the issue themselves and Fowler had a good chance from 20 yards when the way to goal opened up for him but he steered his shot over the crossbar.

Dunne sent a header into his own sidenetting as Blackburn tried to regain the initiative then Steven Reid bulleted a header over from Pedersen's corner.

Musampa created some panic in the home penalty area and the ball pinged around before dropping to Wright-Phillips, who dragged his shot horribly wide.

Joey Barton then had a shot from 18 yards that looked to be going in until Nelsen intervened, then City had a second good penalty appeal turned down when the New Zealander tangled with Sibierski in the Rovers box.

Stead, starved of possession for most of the game, seized onto a loose ball, swivelled and fired but James pulled off a terrific diving save.

With five minutes to go Sibierski flicked on a header from Barton's free-kick over the bar, and the match then fizzled out as both sides appeared to settle for a point.

Teams

Blackburn Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Matteo, Mokoena, Emerton, Savage (Thompson 69), Reid, Pedersen (Gallagher 76), Stead.

Subs Not Used: Flitcroft, Tugay, Enckelman.

Man City James, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Jordan, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Reyna, Barton, Musampa (Croft 77), Fowler (Bradley Wright-Phillips 86), Sibierski.

Subs Not Used: Thatcher, Weaver, Mills.

Att: 24,646

Ref: C Foy (Merseyside).