Damien Johnson hails ‘fantastic’ Blackburn players after beating Sheff Wed

Blackburn interim head coach Damien Johnson praised his “unbelievable group of players” after they defeated Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in their first outing since Valerien Ismael’s departure.

Barely 24 hours after announcing Ismael’s exit by mutual consent, Rovers were faced with replaying their league fixture with the Owls after December’s washout knowing anything but a win would leave them in the relegation zone.

But Eiran Cashin converted a cross from close range to settle nerves while Sondre Tronstad saw his effort tipped onto the woodwork, but Rovers held on to secure only their third league win at home this season and their first victory of 2026.

Johnsen hopes this is a “turning point” for his “fantastic” players.

He said: “We all knew it was a big game for us. It’s not been an easy 24 hours.

“It wasn’t pretty but unbelievable credit to the players. I thought they were fantastic.

“They did play some nice stuff at times but other times they had to just dig in and fight and show spirit and thankfully we got the three points.

“If you can get yourself in front, it makes life a lot easier. Ideally you want the second and we did push for it but when you can’t get it, it’s important you keep them out. They defended the box really well.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more of the players in terms of their mentality, their work rate and fighting spirit.

“Hopefully it’s the turning point for them because it’s not been easy but they’re an unbelievable group of players so I’m just really pleased for them.”

Wednesday almost snatched a second-half equaliser but Jamal Lowe’s header was diverted onto the woodwork and it’s now eight league games without scoring.

Boss Henrik Pedersen challenged his team to be braver.

He said: “First half, on the ball, the first two thirds on the pitch, we were good, to play the press away to progress high up on the pitch.

“We had a challenge when we went from the second third to last third to break the final line, to get more touches in the box. Our offensive possession was okay, but to create something we had challenges again.

“We changed a few things in the second half for our offensive position to get more people high up on the pitch. We were very aggressive, high intensity. The game was less organised.

“After the first 15 minutes, where we create chances, we bring the ball high up but too many times when we can make a deep ball, we end up playing backwards and we have to start again.

“It takes the momentum out of the situation. We need to be braver and we need to risk more.”