The Simon Garner column. . .

LEEDS United's narrow victory over Manchester City on Monday night was significant for two reasons.

Firstly, Leeds turned up the heat on the rest of the clubs at the foot of the Premiership with a massive result which enhanced their chances of staying up.

But secondly, Daniel Van Buyten's foul on Alan Smith late in the second half means Blackburn Rovers are now the only side in the Premiership who have yet to be awarded a penalty this season.

Various theories are currently floating in the ether as to why that's the case.

Speak to Graeme Souness and he'll talk of a conspiracy among referees.

But others will point to the fact that Rovers lack a Damien Duff-type figure who has the ability to wrong-foot defenders in the box.

I, personally, believe Rovers need to start being cuter in the penalty area.

By saying that, I'm not encouraging players to take a dive but I do believe we could be making more of certain situations.

When I was playing, you couldn't get booked for diving so players used to be at it all the time.

I must admit I've gone down myself before now when there's been contact in the box and I haven't been able to get a clear sight of goal.

That's not cheating as such, it's being clever.

These days, defenders aren't allowed to tackle you in the box so if they do make contact and you haven't got a chance of scoring then you might as well go down.

Everyone else seems to be doing it but maybe Rovers are trying to be too honest for their own good?

Whichever way you look at it, it's an amazing stat that Rovers have now played 33 games this season and have yet to be awarded a single penalty.

Somewhere along the line, they must have had a couple of cast iron shouts but for whatever reason they haven't been given.

What a great time it would be to end that record tomorrow.

Leeds' win against City has increased the pressure at the bottom of the table because no-one is dead and buried just yet, which makes the game against Pompey a must-win one as far as Rovers are concerned.

It's about time we saw a home win at Ewood and Portsmouth are the type of side Rovers should be taking six points off a season.

We had some tremendous games with them in the Eighties.

I know we came from opposite ends of the country but those matches felt like local derbies somehow.

Now Rovers must show similar passion again. We had a great result last week at Villa Park but all that hard work will go to waste if we fail to win tomorrow.