Blackburn Rovers endured a difficult first game since John Eustace officially took charge of the club on Tuesday night.
Up against Eustace‘s old club Birmingham City, the Lancashire side suffered a 1-0 defeat. Andre Dozzell’s goal with 77 minutes on the clock was enough to secure all three points for the Blues.
As a result, Blackburn Rovers missed out on the chance to pull further clear of the Championship relegation zone.
In truth they were perhaps fortunate not to lose by more after giving away a number of chances that the hosts failed to convert.
One man who will have been hoping to make a positive impression for Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday was Ben Chrisene. The left-back is on-loan from Aston Villa and will likely have been keen to impress against his parent club’s local rivals.
Ben Chrisene got a ‘let off’ at Birmingham City
For the fourth Championship game in a row Chrisene was inlcuded in Blackburn Rovers’ starting lineup.
Just as he did against Stoke City at the weekend the 20-year-old operated on the left of a back three.
However it was something of a difficult night for him in that role. Giving their player ratings for the game, the Lancashire Telegraph said of Chrisene:
“Had spells where he looked composed and others where he struggled. Was let off by Dembele after failing to deal with a cross from the opposite side.”
As a result, the defender was marked with a score of 5 out of 10 for his performance at St Andrew’s.
According to SofaScore, Chrisene completed four defensive actions during the match, the joint second-highest among Blackburn Rovers players.
He also made two interceptions – the most for his team – as well as blocking one shot and completing one clearance. However, the defender won just three of the ten duels he was involved in, and recorded a pass success rate of 68%.
This therefore, looks like a rather mixed performance for the on-loan Aston Villa man.
No need for Blackburn Rovers to panic over Ben Chrisene yet
Despite the fact that his performance may not have been the best against Birmingham City there ought not to be too much concern about Chrisene at this point.
The left-back is still at the very early stages of his career so he is likely to go through some mixed form as he adapts to regular football at this level.
Indeed, he also stood out in that win for Blackburn Rovers over Stoke City at the weekend.
As a result there can be some confidence around the club that he can still do a decent job for them, even if it did not work out at St Andrew’s.
Even so, given this defeat cost Blackburn Rovers the chance to pull further clear of the relegation zone this will still have been a frustrating night for the club.
That may particularly be the case for Chrisene given his Aston Villa connections.