Blackburn hold leaders to draw despite second-half siege

There are draws that feel like defeats, and there are draws that feel like victories. For Blackburn, this was emphatically the latter. Holding Coventry City to a 1-1 stalemate was a masterclass in damage limitation against a side 37 points clear at the top of the table and in utterly relentless form.

The statistics tell the story of a match utterly dominated by one team and weathered by the other. Coventry walloped 12 shots at Blackburn, kept 70 percent of the ball, strung together 626 passes to their hosts' meagre 265. By rights, Mark Venus and his struggling side should have been swept away. Instead, they proved that organisation, discipline, and a bit of tactical nous can make life miserable for even the slickest attacking unit in the league.

Blackburn took the lead through Ryoji Morishita in the 54th minute, a moment that briefly threatened to make this a genuine upset. The Japanese midfielder clearly believed his side could nick something here, but had other ideas. Coventry's substitute, introduced at the hour mark alongside in a double change that screamed attacking intent, didn't need long to announce his presence. In the 84th minute, with the home side visibly tiring and running on fumes, was picked out by and prodded past the keeper to level. It was no more than Coventry deserved, though Blackburn's rearguard action throughout deserved credit too.