English Premier League/ Blackburn Rovers 1 Sunderland 0: Benni McCarthy ended a 10-game drought to give Blackburn a happy ending in the tale of two penalties played out at Ewood Park last night.
McCarthy struck home the winner from the spot, and his ninth goal of the season in the 57th minute, just six minutes after Dean Whitehead had missed a penalty for Sunderland.
On a night of misery for Sunderland manager Roy Keane, Dwight Yorke was sent off in the 71st minute for two bookable offences in the space of five minutes.
Rovers manager Mark Hughes again opted to leave out Robbie Savage and Jason Roberts - this was the second successive game in which midfielder Savage has not figured, and it appears almost certain he will leave at some stage this month.
Keane is understood to be leading the chase for the Welsh midfielder's services, along with fellow relegation strugglers Wigan and Derby.
As for Roberts, Rovers have placed an apparent fee of €5.5 million on his head, despite the fact he has scored only seven goals in his 40 appearances since a €4-million move from Wigan 18 months ago.
The opening half was a tedious affair, with the best chance falling to an out-of-sorts Rovers, albeit courtesy of a set-piece situation.
When Yorke handled in the 25th minute, David Bentley's 32-yard free-kick had plenty of pace on it, but too much curl as it flashed just wide of the right-hand post.
Sunderland played the marginally better football before the break and created more chances, although none seriously tested goalkeeper Brad Friedel.
The American's most crucial save of the half arrived in the 10th minute, when he parried a stinging angled drive from Daryl Murphy at his near post.
That at least sparked a period of pressure from the visitors, but other than a dragged shot wide from Kenwyne Jones, they failed to press home their advantage.
Jones failed to appear for the second half - as did Rovers' on-song striker Roque Santa Cruz - before Friedel made his telling contribution in the 51st minute.
Christopher Samba clumsily challenged Murphy and Styles pointed to the penalty spot - but Whitehead's spot-kick was tame and Friedel comfortably clutched the shot low to his left.
Within minutes McCarthy showed Whitehead how to take a penalty as he powerfully drove the ball home low and hard.
That had come after Styles had penalised Danny Higginbotham for handball, following a thunderous strike from Samba.
However, the defender - who was also booked - was just two yards away when the ball struck his upper left arm, and had turned his back away from the shot.
It was harsh, while the same could be said about the first yellow card for former Blackburn striker Yorke, who won the ball in a 66th-minute tackle with substitute Matt Derbyshire, who replaced Santa Cruz.
It led to Derbyshire's withdrawal moments later through injury, with David Dunn on as his replacement. And it was another foul on the midfielder from Yorke that led to the former Rovers player's early exit, and it did the visitors few favours as they failed to find the equaliser - and slip back into the bottom three as a result of Wigan's unlikely draw at Liverpool.
BLACKBURN ROVERS: Friedel, Emerton, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock, Bentley, Mokoena, Kerimoglu, Pedersen, Santa Cruz (Derbyshire 46), McCarthy, Derbyshire (Dunn 69). Subs not used: Brown, Khizanishvili, Treacy. Booked: Kerimoglu, Emerton, Samba.
SUNDERLAND: Gordon, Whitehead, McShane, Higginbotham, Collins, Miller, Yorke, Richardson (Waghorn 82), Wallace (Cole 82), Jones (Leadbitter 46), Murphy. Subs not used: Ward, Kavanagh. Booked: Higginbotham, Wallace, Yorke, Collins.
Referee: Rob Styles(Hampshire).
