26-07-09: Blackburn Rovers (h) 1-1 (HT 0-0) Crowd (11,885)

Programme & Ticket:

On 25th July 2009, United hosted EPL side Blackburn Rovers in their only home friendly of the pre-season. It provided a return to his roots for England goalkeeper Paul Robinson and a first game for Patrick Kisnorbo, who had just signed for United from Leicester City. It also saw first games at Elland Road for Shane Higgs and Jason Crowe. Casper Ankergren was out injured and Shane Higgs was given his chance in goal as United lined up with: Shane Higgs; Jason Crowe, Rui Marques, Patrick Kisnorbo, Ben Parker; Robert Snodgrass, Fabian Delph, Jonathan Howson, Bradley Johnson; Jermaine Beckford, Luciano Becchio. Substitutes: Alan Martin, Andy Hughes, Paul Huntington, Lubomir Michalik, Alan Sheehan, Andy Robinson, David Prutton, Enoch Showumni and Mike Grella. The game kicked off fifteen minutes late to allow a bottleneck of queuing fans time to get into the ground but the official crowd was only 11,885. It was Luciano Becchio that provided the first highlight in the game, after three minutes, when his speculative shot passed narrowly over the bar. The Argentinian next created a good chance for Jermaine Beckford, but Paul Robinson was equal to the task, saving at the expense of a corner. United were close again, in the eighth minute, when Fabian Delph made a strong run before unleashing a fine shot which had Paul Robinson beaten but just clipped a post. It was Delph again, that picked out Jermaine Beckford with a cross-field ball, for the United striker to watch in frustration as his lob was headed off the line by a Blackburn defender. United were causing their EPL foes all kinds of trouble and the pressure showed as a header by a Rovers defender saw a post stop it from becoming an own goal. Jermaine Beckford, who was following up, hooked his shot just over the bar. When Blackburn did finally get on the attack, Shane Higgs easily collected an El Hadji Diouf free-kick but Rui Marques had to concede a corner to deny Jason Roberts. Jason Crowe and Luciano Becchio combined well for the striker to shoot wide and Paul Robinson parried a Jermaine Beckford effort before easily dealing with Luciano Becchio's follow up. After forty-one minutes Blackburn should have done better with a free-kick on the edge of the Leeds penalty box but Shane Higgs easily dealt with Morten Gamst Pedersen's effort. Moments later the Leeds keeper was again in action as he was quick off his line to thwart the onrushing Jason Roberts. On the stroke of half time Robert Snodgrass was injured and limped off at half time. He was back after half-time and saw a Jermaine Beckford effort deflected for a corner. It was Snodgrass that forced Paul Robinson into an acrobatic save at the expense of a corner four minutes after the break. It was from that corner that United deservedly took the lead. Snodgrass took the corner and Luciano Becchio deftly headed it on for Jermaine Beckford to flick the ball into the net with a pleasing finish. Blackburn soon retaliated and Shane Higgs made a fine double save first from Jason Roberts and then El Hadji Diouf, who had followed up with a fine effort. Paul Robinson who had already made some fine saves, pulled off another from a Bradley Johnson free-kick in the fifty-fourth minute. On the fifty-sixth minute mark United made two changes as Andy Hughes replaced Jason Crowe and Lubomir Michalik came on for Patrick Kisnorbo. Just four minutes later the former United custodian was substituted and after throwing his gloves into the Kop, left the field to a thunderous reception, as Jasopn Brown took his place in the Blackburn goal. Six minutes later the visitors made two more changes as Martin Olssen replaced Lars Jacobsen and Paul Gallagher took over from Jason Roberts and a minute later David Dunn also replaced Steven Nzonzi. After sixty-nine minutes there was another double substitution by Leeds as Ben Parker and Fabian Delph made way for Alan Sheehan and Andy Robinson. Three minutes later Blackburn made two further changes as Zurab Khizanshvili replaced Gael Givet and David Hoilett came on for El Hadji Diouf then just one minute later they made their final change when Elrio Van Heerden replaced Morten Gamst Pedersen leaving Aaron Doran and Alan Judge unused on the bench. In the seventy-fourth minute there were two further substitutions by the home side with Rui Marques and Bradley Johnson leaving the pitch for Paul Huntington and David Prutton, as Blackburn enjoyed more of the ball in the second half but with fifteen minutes left had not really looked like scoring. In the seventy-ninth minute United made their final double change with strikers Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio being replaced by Enoch Showumni and Mike Grella, leaving goalkeeper Alan Martin as the only unused substitute. Paul Gallagher and David Dunn both tried their luck from distance and both teams had appeals for penalties turned down as the game entered the last five minutes. Right on time the referee pointed to the spot after Alan Sheehan had brought down Martin Olssen and Paul Gallagher duly converted the spot kick into a goal to leave the final score at 1-1.