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Championship: Blackburn Rovers beat Preston North End in Lancashire derby Ohashi heads home in 95th-minute winner for Blackburn Michael O'Neill has won first two games in charge of Rovers Preston miss chance to climb back into the play-off places before Saturday's fixtures Blackburn move six points clear of relegation zone with win at Ewood Park Rovers won 2-1 at Deepdale when the sides met in November Have your say by using the 'Get Involved' button Jay Freeman and Zoe Mc Grady FT: Blackburn 1-0 Preston Alan Kelly Former Preston keeper on BBC Radio Lancashire The way he got on the end of that header was incredible. We haven't seen a lot of quality in this game but that is all Blackburn needed. Disastrous for Preston right at the end. With their position in the table they won't be happy with the outcome at all but also the performance wasn't there tonight. FT: Blackburn 1-0 Preston Two wins from two for Michael O'Neill since his arrival at Blackburn a week ago. Not a bad return. Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom will be deeply unhappy with that result, mind. That's a blow to their play-off hopes. Blackburn 1-0 Preston All over at Ewood Park and a huge three points for Blackburn who are now six points above the Championship drop zone. Preston miss the change to break into the top six after that dramatic Yuki Ohashi header. And there's some afters right at the end, too. I suppose it is a derby isn't it? Blackburn 1-0 Preston Kevin Gallacher Former Blackburn striker on BBC Radio Lancashire What a header. He had so much to do but he gave it so much power. What a finish that it is. The noise at Ewood right now is electric. Yuki Ohashi Ewood Park erupts! A throw-in's sent into the box by Eiran Cashin which is diverted back to him. He then lofts a cross back into the box which is met by Yuki Ohashi who puts in a sensational header past Preston keeper David Cornell. Thierry Small goes into the book in the aftermath for a cynical foul after the kick-off. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Alan Kelly Former Preston keeper on BBC Radio Lancashire The final ball has just been really poor from both sides. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Sondre Tronstad wins the ball just past halfway and has a few options as Blackburn threaten Preston. But his delivery sails out for a throw-in as the ball picks up some spin. This is heading for 0-0 draw, isn't it? Blackburn 0-0 Preston A Preston free-kick after that Eiran Cashin foul is sent into the box. A crowded box, with no one getting a clear cut chance before Cashin makes amends by punting the ball out of danger. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Five minutes added on, right as Blackburn's Eiran Cashin goes into the book for a rash challenge. Will we see a dramatic late winner here or will we end up goalless by full-time? Blackburn 0-0 Preston Andy Bayes BBC Radio Lancashire commentator Michael O'Neill is shouting to the referee to try and find out what is going on with this stoppage. Welcome back to club football Michael. Blackburn 0-0 Preston There's a stoppage in play as Preston keeper David Cornell receives some treatment. Who knows how much injury time we're going to have, now. Time's ticking down towards the 90 here. Have your say using the 'Get Involved' button As a neutral I'd love to see either team in the Premier League, but as a fan in general how good would it be to have Blackburn back. . what a team in the 90s Gary, Birkenhead I'll call this the Lacklustre Derby Luke, Solihull Blackburn 0-0 Preston Alan Kelly Former Preston keeper on BBC Radio Lancashire I thought it was penalty, he has caught him twice. If that is in the Premier League that is certainly a penalty. He bounced back up, I think if he stayed down it is different. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Thierry Small and Dapo Afolayan clash as the latter makes a run into the Preston box and there's shouts around Ewood Park for a penalty. Play continues, the ball's worked to Kristi Montgomery who smacks his shot first time and it picks up a hefty deflection and goes out for a corner. That comes to nothing as Afolayan lofts his cross high over the bar. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Moussa Baradji does indeed make way. Kristi Montgomery takes his place. Dapo Afolayan also comes on with Harry Pickering coming off. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Looks like Blackburn boss Michael O'Neill's going to throw on some fresh legs. One of which might be enforced as Moussa Baradji is limping around. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Alan Kelly Former Preston keeper on BBC Radio Lancashire If you are Blackburn now I think you just need to just keep pressing. Something is going to come. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Oof. Blackburn are turning the screw here. Yuki Ohashi meets a corner at the near post but his flicked header is well saved. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Alan Kelly Former Preston keeper on BBC Radio Lancashire This game is anyone's to win. Considering where Preston are in the league they haven't really been knocking on the door of the home side as much as they should have. Maybe it's because it's a derby game but no one has really settled into this game. Blackburn 0-0 Preston Kevin Gallacher Former Blackburn striker on BBC Radio Lancashire I thought that was in. The two of them got forward and I thought that was the breakthrough. It was the final ball that went wrong. Match report to follow. Rate players out of 10 for this game. The rater will close 30 minutes after the final whistle. You must be signed in to a BBC account to play. After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Last Updated 20th February 2026 at 21: 53 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Michael O'Neill Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Paul Heckingbottom Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Michael O'Neill Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Paul Heckingbottom Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Following their 2-1 win in this season’s reverse fixture (November 2025), Blackburn will be aiming to record a league double over Preston for just the third time since the turn of the millennium (also in 2000-01 and 2021-22). Preston have only lost two of their last nine away league games against Blackburn (W5 D2), although one of those defeats did come in this exact fixture last season, losing in January 2025 (1-2). Blackburn have won two of their last three league games (L1), as many as they did across the previous 16 matches. Following their 3-1 win at QPR last time out, Blackburn will be looking to win consecutive Championship games for the first time since early November. Preston North End have won just one of their last five away league games (D2 L2), a 2-0 win over Bristol City in January. Only bottom-placed Sheffield Wednesday (4) have earned fewer points at home in the Championship this season than Blackburn’s 14 (W3 D5 L8), though Rovers won their most recent home league match (1-0 vs Sheffield Wednesday). Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.