WHAT HAPPENED
Our under-23s extended their unbeaten run to four Premier League 2 fixtures on Monday night despite going down to 10 men early in the second half at Ewood Park.
It was the hosts who started out on top, with Deyan Iliev forced into a number of early saves.
Willem Tomlinson’s curling effort from the edge of the area was parried to safety, before Jack Rodwell’s towering goalbound header was denied by an instinctive save.
On the half-hour mark Dan Butterworth slipped Joe Nuttall through on goal down the right, but once again, Iliev was quick to react and clear the danger.
Freddie Ljungberg would have hoped to see his rotated side impose themselves on the Rovers defence after the break, but just three minutes into the second half, Charlie Gilmour was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Lewis Travis.
Joe Willock then fired wide from 25 yards, before Tomlinson’s effort from the edge of the box was held well by Iliev.
But while the game remained goalless, there was plenty of drama in the closing stages.
Hayden Carter saw red for hacking down Willock on the edge of the box in the 85th minute, before Willock himself had a golden opportunity to seal all three points.
Our No 8 raced into the box and fired at goal from close range, but Andy Fisher produced a stunning diving save to keep the score level.
WHAT’S NEXT
We will now turn our attention to our Premier League 2 clash with Liverpool on Friday.
The game will take place at Meadow Park with kick-off at 7pm (UK time).
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
