Championship

Shane Duffy bags two own-goals and sees red as Blackburn lose at Cardiff

• Republic defender makes it three own-goals in a week
• QPR lose at Barnsley and lie fifth, two ahead of the Tykes
duffy
Blackburn’s Shane Duffy heads for the dressing room after being sent off in a game in which he also scored Cardiff’s goals in a 2-1 defeat for Rovers. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Press Association

This article is 5 months old

Shane Duffy had a night to forget in Cardiff as he scored two own‑goals before being sent off in a 2-1 defeat that continued Blackburn’s wretched start under Owen Coyle.

The Republic of Ireland defender found the net at the wrong end at Wigan on Saturday and it continued in South Wales with a pair of own-goals inside the opening 20 minutes.

Duffy saw the ball ricochet off him after Declan John’s shot hit the post and he doubled the Bluebirds’ advantage by directing Peter Whittingham’s free-kick beyond Jason Steele with his head. The defender has turned down a new Rovers deal amid reported interest from Celtic.

Asked whether Duffy was in the right frame of mind to play for Blackburn, Coyle said he did not have the answer and suggested that agents had turned the player’s head.

“I think that’s the million dollar question we always face with players,” Coyle said after a third straight league defeat for Blackburn.“Coming into the club there’s a number of situations I’ve inherited. Shane, Ben Marshall … there have been offers that were rejected a couple of weeks ago.

“But what you have in the modern game is third-party interest, somebody in one ear telling you one thing, someone else in the other ear telling you another. They have their heads turned and you’ve got to manage that in the modern game.

“When you step on that field you’ve got to be at your best and be at your maximum and, unfortunately, that’s not happened tonight.”

Blackburn’s winless start in the league would extend to three games despite Danny Graham reducing the arrears late on. Duffy got his second caution in stoppage time for kicking the ball away. The only 100% record was ended when QPR lost 3-2 at Barnsley. A win would have sent Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s side to the top of the table, yet they trailed at the break to Marley Watkins’s fourth‑minute header.

QPR would turn the game on its head thanks to two penalties, one converted by Tjaronn Chery, the other by Sebastian Polter, but Conor Hourihane levelled with a free-kick and Josh Scowen claimed an 89th-minute winner against a visiting side thatalso finished with 10 men, due to Grant Hall’s dismissal.