Leicester 1 Rovers 1

IT was like an accident waiting to happen. Things have gone so well for Kevin Gallacher at one end of the field this season, something just had to give at the other - and it did, writes PETER WHITE.

With Blackburn Rovers in command and looking to add a crucial second goal to Chris Sutton's superb opener, it took just a split second to go from Gally Ho, to Gally Woe, as the forward committed the crucial error which let Leicester back into the match.

And Gallacher doesn't hide from taking responsibility, as he admitted afterwards.

"Away from home you are happy with a point but I should have seen it out of the pitch. It was a very bad mistake and it's probably cost the boys two points. But you have to live with that and die with it."

Rovers fans will accept an honest - and rare - blunder from an honest player and, by the end of a pulsating 90 minutes, you had to say the home team were worth a point.

Where Tottenham was sterile, this was stimulating. Not least for the fact that English football's current top striker Sutton underlined his goalscoring qualities in the first 45 minutes, then took over as an emergency central defender in the second.

He acquitted himself with distinction at both ends of the field, no doubt benefitting from being alongside Colin Hendry who was a rock - as always - when Leicester's bombardment was at its height. They're not a kick-and-rush team but they are basic, a sort of subtle Wimbledon of old, who play to their strengths and it serves them well.

But, if Rovers had been able to add to Sutton's 36th minute strike, there's no doubt in my mind that Leicester would have been dead and buried.

And they should have been.

Martin Dahlin's previous appearance at Filbert Street had brought him a goal in a pre-season friendly romp a few years back for Borussia Moenchengladbach. If the Swedish star had only been able to take one of two great first half chances, either side of the goal, Rovers would have been celebrating another famous away victory.

Having said that, no-one is quibbling at a point from a ground where Aston Villa and Spurs have already been beaten and Manchester United and Arsenal have been happy to leave with a draw.

That puts it into perspective.

Last night's blood and thunder clash provided great entertainment and, in the end, probably a fair result.

There was a stark contrast in styles. Rovers wanted to get it down and play, Leicester prefer to hit it long, especially when their own pass master Garry Parker is no longer on the field.

Rovers failed to press home their advantage in the first half when they had several strikes on target to Leicester's one - the home team's goal.

But the pressure from Leicester in the second half could easily have put them in front with only some courageous defending keeping them at bay.

This is a tough spell for Rovers with a series of away matches but they showed from the start that they are up to it.

Kasey Keller was by far the busier keeper in the opening half, making an excellent save from Sutton's 30-yard free kick, though Rovers were grateful to Hendry for a brilliant goal-line clearance after Tim Flowers had gone walkabout.

Dahlin again brought the best out of Keller before Rovers took a deserved lead.

The build-up was somewhat dubious, with Jason Wilcox trying a shot that was blocked and the ball rebounded - via several defenders it seemed - to a spot just outside the penalty area.

Sutton, averaging a goal a game, is in the mood to profit from just such a situation and he swung that trusty right leg at the ball to find the keeper's bottom right-hand corner.

Just two minutes later, Dahlin forced his way through two tackles to break clear but the finish, from an angle, was disappointing.

It still looked good but, two minutes before half time, came the killer blow.

Gallacher diligently tracked back to beat Steve Guppy to the ball and tried to shepherd it out of play.

But he made a serious misjudgment. Guppy managed to get in a cross and, though Hendry got to it first, he could only steer it out to Mustafa Izzet, claiming he was being held as he made the half clearance.

If everything else was in doubt, however, Izzet's strike wasn't. He hit a magnificent volley from just inside the penalty area into the far top corner. Both goals were straight out of the finest finishing school in the business.

The second half saw Leicester in the ascendancy as far as pressure was concerned, but the new partnership of Hendry and man for all seasons Sutton in the centre of defence stood firm.

And Rovers also continued to have their chances.

Wilcox began to go past men again down the left and, with Gallacher running his socks off to atone for his error, they had as many openings as the home team.

Keller made a great save from Gallacher, breathed a sigh of relief as Tim Sherwood - looking really authoritative in midfield - had a header cleared off the line and was a spectator again as Hendry's header went inches wide.

Leicester's threat was confined to pressure from balls into the box, often from set pieces.

Their greatest threat came after 72 minutes when two efforts, somehow, were cleared off the line when the ball seemed certain to finish in the net.

Sherwood might have had a penalty if the referee had shown the consistency of the first half, while Tony Cottee replaced ex-Rover Graham Fenton whose pre-game words had not been matched by his deeds.

In the end the result was probably right and, while Roy Hodgson had expressed the view that draws are virtually "worthless" these days, he will agree that away points are not to be sneezed at.

This could look a more than useful point as the season unfolds.

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