Everton ease past poor Rovers

Blackburn's away-day struggles continued as they went down to a 2-0 defeat at Everton.

Osman and Baines on target for in-form Toffees

Blackburn's away-day struggles continued as they went down to a 2-0 defeat at Everton. Second-half goals from Leon Osman and Leighton Baines plunged Rovers into further Premier League relegation trouble. Steve Kean's lacklustre side, now without a win in nine games, will be looking nervously over their shoulders as they are just two points above the drop zone with five games remaining. Everton, meanwhile, are right on the tails of the top six and moved to within a point of Merseyside rivals Liverpool. After a poor opening period, Everton came out firing at the start of the second half. And within eight minutes of the restart they were ahead as Osman smashed the ball in via a slight deflection off Christopher Samba. The Toffees made sure of the points after 75 minutes when Phil Jones brought Seamus Coleman crashing down in the box and Leighton Baines made no mistake from 12 yards. Rovers' best chance fell to substitute Morten Gamst Pedersen late on, but he failed to hit the target.

Early chance

Rovers had put aside recent controversy to bring back defender Gael Givet for the contest following the damaging blow of losing the influential Ryan Nelsen for the rest of the season. French defender Givet reportedly missed last week's draw against Birmingham because of a tax dispute. David Dunn and former Barcelona trainee Ruben Rochina also featured as the dangerous Junior Hoilett failed to overcome a hamstring injury and Pedersen was dropped to the bench. Everton were unchanged from the side which thrashed Wolves last week but Coleman and Jack Rodwell both returned off the bench after ankle injuries. Everton should have claimed a second-minute lead when Jermaine Jones inadvertently put Jermaine Beckford through with a backwards header but the former Leeds forward blasted over. Samba cleared a dangerous Baines cross and, moments after Osman claimed he had been pushed in the box, the Rovers captain deflected a shot from Phil Jagielka behind. Everton's positive start was undermined after 15 minutes when John Heitinga was forced off with a hamstring injury but Rodwell took his place. Referee Kevin Friend had a word with Baines after a reckless challenge on Jermaine Jones midway through the first half but chose not to book the England left-back. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov controlled the ball well on the edge of the area to create a chance for Phil Neville but the Everton skipper, who scored his first goal in three years last week, shot over. Everton continued to dominate possession but Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson, another Baines cross aside, had little to concern him. Osman had a chance in first-half injury-time but his shot lacked power and was comfortably gathered by Robinson. Both sides showed greater urgency as the second half got under way and Rovers went close as Dunn drove forward and got away from Tony Hibbert to curl a shot wide. Everton upped the tempo in response and created a series of good chances before claiming a deserved lead. Magaye Gueye, after a frustrating first half, got into the game more and charged into the box after his own ball for Beckford was half-cleared and blasted narrowly over. Baines then went even closer with a powerful low effort from 30 yards which almost shaved the post.

Opener

Their opener came after Bilyaletdinov skipped over a challenge from Givet and had a shot deflected behind. Gueye took the corner short to Osman, who effortlessly sidestepped Rochina and fired in a shot which flew in at the far post after a deflection off Samba. Gueye went close again before leaving the field to a standing ovation and being replaced by Coleman, who immediately worried Rovers with a cutting run down the right. Rochina perhaps showed his frustration at his role in conceding the goal when he earned a booking for a rash challenge on Hibbert. Another bad tackle, this time by Phil Jones on Coleman in the box, put the game beyond Blackburn as Friend pointed to the spot. Baines made no mistake as he stepped up to fire his second penalty in three games into the roof of the net. Rovers' fortune was summed up moments later when Jagielka and Baines collided trying to head clear a bouncing ball and substitute Pedersen somehow shot wide from six yards. Everton continued to finish strongly and Robinson tipped over a header from Bilyaletdinov at the far post in the closing moments.

Everton	Team Statistics	Blackburn Rovers
2	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
4	Shots on Target	1
9	Shots off Target	3
5	Blocked Shots	3
10	Corners	1
10	Fouls	19
1	Offsides	2
1	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
72.1	Passing Success	66
21	Tackles	19
76.2	Tackles Success	84.2
55.1	Possession	44.9
57.7	Territorial Advantage	42.3