Blackburn's march back towards the Premiership was interrupted by a
magnificent performance by Wolves keeper Michael Oakes at Molineux.
In a stormy game littered by yellow cards, the former Aston Villa keeper
produced seven diving saves in the second half to break the hearts of Graeme
Souness' men.
Wolves had the better of the first half and might well have been in front at
the break but would certainly have been swept aside had it not been for the
agility and reflexes of their last line of defence.
Almost from the restart after half-time, he got to work against a Rovers side
bearing a more attacking edge after Eyal Berkovic had gone on for the limping
Stig Bjornebye.
The Israeli linked up with Marcus Bent to tee up a curling 25-yarder for
David Dunn, who was denied by the keeper's full-length dive and tip-round to his
left.
From the resulting corner, Matt Jansen's header was superbly pushed over,
then skipper Gary Flitcroft was left in a state of disbelief when Oakes
magnificently kept out his near-post effort to a corner by Craig Hignett.
Blackburn continued to lay siege to Wolves' goal up to the hour mark and Bent
and Jansen again were frustrated by sprawling saves with Blackburn sensing
another victory.
It would not come, however, and Wolves dug in to ride their luck and emerge
with a second successive 0-0 home draw.
They have now gone four matches at Molineux without scoring but were
immensely grateful with a point this time, especially as the outstanding Dunn
weaved his way through into a clear shooting position and brought another
tremendous diving stop from the keeper in the dying stages.
Wolves barely threatened in the second half, although they produced an
attacking flurry at the end and Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel had to make a
routine save from Joleon Lescott.
It had all been different in the first half, when Rovers - with only one
defeat in their previous 12 League games - were subdued and off-colour.
Wolves had a hungry look about them after a sequence of one point from 12 and
George Ndah, having shot wide early on, hit the post with a close-range effort.
Temuri Ketsbaia was lively in his first start since November 4, and there were
boos from the crowd when he was substituted on 54 minutes.
Teams
Wolverhampton: Oakes, Muscat, Naylor, Lescott, Dinning,
Robinson, Ketsbaia (Emblen 54), Sinton (Camara 36), Andrews,
Ndah, Proudlock.
Subs Not Used: Stowell, Connelly, Roussel.
Booked: Ketsbaia, Dinning, Ndah, Robinson, Andrews.
Blackburn: Friedel, Curtis, Bjornebye (Berkovic 45), Berg, Short, Flitcroft, Dunn, Mahon (Gillespie 43), Hignett, Bent (Hughes 74), Jansen.
Subs Not Used: Kelly, Taylor.
Booked: Dunn, Short, Berkovic.
Att: 20,018.
Ref: P Danson (Leicester).
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