Stoke dent Blackburn’s Championship promotion hopes

Blackburn’s automatic promotion hopes suffered a setback as Stoke staved off a desperate fightback to win 3-2 in the Championship on Friday.

The visitors launched a late revival but failed to prevent their 11-match unbeaten run in all competitions from drawing to an end.

A confident Stoke side, who thumped Sunderland 5-1 last weekend, picked up where they left off with a first-half double.

Wolves loanee Ki-Jana Hoever twice finished expertly as he met accurate crosses, notching the first league goals of his career.

Tyrese Campbell added a third to put Stoke within reach of successive league victories for the first time since October.

However, late Rovers goals from Ben Brereton Diaz — his 12th of the season — and Sam Gallagher nearly teed up a grandstand finish.

It proved too little, too late for Blackburn, as they failed to register a fifth consecutive league win or close the gap on the top two.

AFP

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