Dzeko goal is offside – Blackburn boss Steve Kean bemoans Manchester City winner

Steve Kean (Getty Images)

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Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean has blamed the match officials for his side’s 1-0 home defeat to Manchester City which has extended their10-game run without a win.

Blackburn are now in 16th place in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone.

Kean told reporters that he felt Manchester City’s goal, scored by Edin Dzeko for his first in the league, should have been disallowed and that his side should have been awared a penalty.

He said: “We feel very hard done by, we feel there goal is offside, that Balotelli is standing in front of Paul Robinson and we felt we had a good shout for a penalty ourselves with the bump on Niko Kalinic but he made it hard for the referee by staying on his feet.

“After first 15 of the first half we got ourselves into a good shape and dealt with the rotation that Man City were doing.

“We were in ascendancy just before half time and we continued that in second half, I thought were excellent in the first 20 minutes of the second half and that was probably the period when we had to score but we didn’t carve out many clear cut chances, there were a few half chances.

“I thought the front two worked ever so hard, and on another night we might be sitting here with a point.”

Kean remains defiant and he predicted a positive result for his side against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday in what is now a crucial match for his struggling team.

He added: “Before tonight we’d only lost once since Christmas here, to lose two would be psychologically  tough, but we’ve got a good group, they’re strong characters, if we play like that we’ll get points, I don’t think we’ll have a defeat against Bolton.

“I think at this stage of the season with the way results are going, every single point is difficult to get, if we perform like that I’m sure we pick up some points.