Bournemouth were unable to break down a stubborn Blackburn Rovers defence as the two sides played out a goalless draw in a Championship match that was delayed by 30 minutes due to a traffic incident near the stadium.

The hosts started the game 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 back to Ryan Fraser, but the midfielder's follow-up effort sailed wide.

The Cherries started the second half as they finished the first, putting Blackburn under constant pressure; but it took them until the 74th minute to really test Steele again.

Yann Kermorgant rose high in the box and headed the ball goalwards, forcing the Rovers goalkeeper into the save of the afternoon.

Rovers were restricted to long-range efforts, one of which fell to Ben Marshall in the 79th minute, but his speculative strike failed to trouble Artur Boruc between the Bournemouth sticks.

Bournemouth hammered on the door in the closing stages, with Kermorgant crashing a shot against the crossbar in the 83rd minute and Steele denying Harry Arter from the edge of the box in the 87th.

Blackburn could have stolen maximum points against the run of play in stoppage time as Tom Cairney and Rudy Gestede both missed chances, but they were made to settle for a point and a rare clean sheet on the road.