Bournemouth were unable to penetrate the Blackburn Rovers defence in the first half of their Championship meeting, which is running 30 minutes behind schedule due to a traffic incident near the stadium.

The hosts started the match on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring in the seventh minute as Marc Pugh's close-range effort forced an impressive save out of Rovers stopper Jason Steele.

Bournemouth threatened again in the 21st minute in the wake of a free kick, which eventually found its way to Ryan Fraser, but the midfielder's follow-up effort sailed wide.

The Cherries controlled the opening stages, but were unable to make their dominance count, while Blackburn will take heart from the fact that their defence held tight and they looked dangerous on the break.