Lancashire | Blackburn earn battling win away at Watford

Watford 0 - 1 Blackburn Rovers

Ryoya Morishita marked his full Championship debut with the decisive goal as Blackburn claimed a deserved win at Watford.

Author | Danny H

Stadium | Vicarage Road

The Blackburn end watches the action

Morishita, a 28-year-old Japan international, joined Rovers from Legia Warsaw last month, struck early in the second half to earn Valérien Ismaël’s side only their second victory of the season. The result also carried extra significance for Ismaël, coming against his former club, and lifted Blackburn away from the bottom three.

How the action unfolded

Morishita had already gone close in the first half, rattling the bar with a swerving effort before testing Watford goalkeeper Egil Selvik again soon after. His breakthrough came two minutes into the second period when Yuki Ohashi slipped a simple pass through and Morishita finished calmly into the corner in front of the watching Sir Elton John.

Pre-match huddle

It has been a memorable few months for the winger, who scored his first goal for Japan against Indonesia in June, and his strike underlined Blackburn’s growing momentum after a difficult start.

Watford began brightly with chances for Rocco Vata and Mamadou Doumbia but faded badly as the match wore on. Their defensive frailties remain a concern for Paulo Pezzolano’s side, who are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league and have taken only one win from their opening six games.

Luca Kjerrumgaard and Kwadwo Baah both had opportunities to bring the hosts level but Balázs Tóth was equal to the latter’s effort. Watford, who wore a special-edition kit in tribute to Sir Elton, could not summon a response and slipped to their first home league defeat of the campaign.

Pictures taken from both ends of the ground

A Blackburn fan celebrates one of their own

After the match, we caught up with a Blackburn fan in the away end, who told us, “How fitting that the standout performer on Saturday was one of our own in Scott Wharton. He and Hayden Carter are a partnership that is blessed with talent and blighted by injuries. Keeping them fit will be the key to the calm and resilience shown in what felt like a comfortable win here.”

Another fan, Paul, is already looking ahead to future matches. He told Super Local Sports News: “With two victories under our belt now, attention needs to turn to picking up wins at home where we have struggled at times this season.”