Blackburn Rovers held Liverpool to a goalless draw at Ewood Park in their weekend Premiership clash dealing a further blow to the Reds ambitions of mounting a serious challenge for the Premiership title this season.

Rovers dominated before the break, with David Bentley hitting the post and David Dunn's shot crashing against the crossbar. Mark Hughes' side will take immense satisfaction from their performance in this game although they failed to grab their chances.

Benni McCarthy began the game well for the Rovers mounting a sharp attack as he managed to turn Jamie Carragher, but was thwarted by Sami Hyypia. Morten Gamst Pedersen then stole the ball from Gerrard and passed it to Bentley whose cross was headed straight at Jose Reina by Roque Santa Cruz. On 21 minutes Dunn had a clear shot at goal, but chose to pass the ball to Santa Cruz instead and Blackburn lost the initiative.

On 30 minutes John Arne Riise's cross from the left-wing fell to Benayoun, whose shot was blocked by Stephen Warnock. After the break, Liverpool appeared to be hungrier as they strove into attacking positions. Dirk Kuyt had two great chances, but was unable to direct his shot goal ward.

Harry Kewell came on for Liverpool just after the break, but was unable to provide any creativity to the Reds attacking moves. Peter Crouch came on in the 72nd minute and it was then that Liverpool looked threatening, but by then it was too late. Kuyt had a golden chance in the dying minutes, but his close range effort could not find the net.

Blackburn are 6th in the Premier League with 22 points from 11 games, while Liverpool are 7th with 21 points from 11 games. Watch live Premier League matches on free-football.tv