Aune Heggebo comes close to scoring as Blackburn share stalemate with West Brom

Blackburn kept their third successive clean sheet as they were held to a goalless draw by fellow relegation battlers West Brom.

Following the earlier draw between Portsmouth and Oxford, both sides knew a win would hand a significant boost to their survival chances.

But it was perhaps unsurprising that two teams that have become harder to beat would cancel each other out and so it proved as the only clearcut chance came in the first half when Aune Heggebo’s effort was magnificently tipped onto the goal frame by Balazs Toth.

Where the Baggies bossed the first half, so did Rovers in the second but aside from a blocked Mathias Jorgensen shot, they could not break through a resolute away defence.

Blackburn’s unbeaten run stretches to four, during which time they have conceded just once and are six points clear of danger.

West Brom’s impressive run under James Morrison continues as they stretch their own unbeaten run to six matches to keep themselves four points from the bottom three.

The Baggies, roared on by a magnificent away contingent in excess of 7,500, made a positive start and Danny Imray crossed to Isaac Price in the seventh minute but the attacker stroked wide from 12 yards out.

Albion would have been ahead on the half hour but for an astonishing save as Josh Maja cushioned a header into the path of Heggebo six yards out and his powerful strike was arrowing into the roof of the net but Toth sprung into action and diverted onto the crossbar before Rovers cleared.

The hosts struggled to make any inroads in an attacking sense and only had efforts blazed off target towards the end of the half by Todd Cantwell and Ryoya Morishita to show for their efforts.

Michael O’Neill rang the half-time changes and opted for a change of shape and Rovers certainly seemed better for it as they forced two early corners. From the first, Max O’Leary’s unconvincing punch fell to Moussa Baradji, whose half-volley sailed over.

Rovers immediately forced another corner which was headed wide by Tom Atcheson in the 50th minute.

The switch to 4-4-2 gave West Brom’s defence much more to think about and Rovers went close again in the 67th minute when Yuki Ohashi’s left-wing cross fell to substitute Mathias Jorgensen in the area but his shot was superbly blocked by Ousmane Diakite.

It became increasingly clear that one goal would be enough for victory in such a tight affair and Daryl Dike almost provided it for Albion with five minutes remaining, but Dapo Afolayan slid in to deflect over.