Stoke City FC battled back to claim a 1–1 draw against Blackburn Rovers FC on Championship matchday 42, with Jesurun Rak-Sakyi cancelling out Adam Forshaw’s opener before the hosts finished with 10 men.
Blackburn struck first on 21 minutes. Adam Forshaw found the breakthrough, finishing off a move created by Ryan Alebiosu, whose assist put the visitors 1–0 up and briefly silenced the home crowd.
Stoke suffered an early disruption when Ben Gibson was replaced by Aaron Cresswell in the 24th minute, but the hosts grew into the contest after the half-hour mark. Blackburn collected a flurry of bookings before the interval, with Moussa Baradji (31’), Yuki Ohashi (33’) and creator Alebiosu (45’) all cautioned.
The Potters drew level shortly after the restart. On 56 minutes, Million Manhoef slipped in Rak-Sakyi, who converted to make it 1–1 and swing the momentum in Stoke’s favour. The goalscorer was later booked himself in the 62nd minute.
Both managers turned to their benches in search of a winner. Blackburn introduced Taylor Gardner-Hickman on 63 minutes, then made a double change on 77 minutes as Forshaw and Todd Cantwell were replaced by Kristi Montgomery and Mathias Jørgensen. Stoke responded with Lamine Cissé coming on for Sam Gallagher (72’), before Joon-ho Bae replaced Rak-Sakyi in the 86th minute.
The closing stages turned tense. Stoke defender Ashley Phillips, already on a yellow from the 47th minute, was sent off in the 87th minute after receiving a second caution. Ben Pearson and Lewis Baker both picked up bookings in the 88th minute as Stoke dug in to preserve the draw.
Blackburn made late attacking switches, bringing on Dion De Neve (89’) and Nathan Redmond (90’), but could not force a winner. The 1–1 result leaves both sides sharing the points, with no further detailed match statistics or attendance figures available at this time.
For more on the Championship, visit the Ballaxy league hub. Full match data is available on the Stoke vs Blackburn match page.
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