The battle at the foot of the Barclays Premier League is becoming so intense that a hard-earned point at Ewood Park last night was not sufficient to prevent Blackburn Rovers drifting back into the bottom three. Neither was it much of a fillip for Everton in their attempt to improve upon the Uefa Cup place for which they are on course.

With teams around Blackburn starting to win matches, Sam Allardyce, the Rovers manager, believes that 40 points is his team’s new survival target. To reach this threshold, they will have to play better than they did against a team whose injury concerns surfaced again hours before the match with the news that Victor Anichebe, the Nigeria forward, will need knee surgery and has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

In truth, Everton were no better than their opponents in an immensely disappointing match. Chances were rare, despite Allardyce’s claim that his side created several in the second half.

Chances? “I thought they had only one,” David Moyes, the Everton manager, responded. His assessment was the more accurate, because the failure of Jason Roberts to find a way past Tim Howard, the Everton goalkeeper, when he went clear midway through the second half was Blackburn’s only genuine opportunity.

It had started promisingly for the visiting team, with Jason Brown, the Blackburn goalkeeper who had been afforded a rare chance to play by a shoulder injury to Paul Robinson, almost beaten within seconds of the start when a shot from Jô, the Brazil forward, was diverted narrowly wide.

That was followed by 37 attritional minutes before Brown pulled off a magnificent reflex save to beat away a fiercely struck shot by Steven Pienaar. It was a stop that justified Allardyce’s pre-match confidence in Brown, who was limping badly by the end and is a doubt for Blackburn’s next game, away to Fulham on Wednesday.

The lack of firepower brought a change of heart at the interval by Allardyce. Roque Santa Cruz, who had been anonymous in an unaccustomed role on the right flank, was restored to a more central position and it almost brought a dividend when he shot wide after neat footwork by Stephen Warnock. Again used in midfield instead of at full back, Warnock then hit the top of the crossbar with a free kick that had Howard back-pedalling, before Aaron Mokoena failed to trouble Howard with a close-range header.

Allardyce said: “I thought we got stronger as the game went on. It’s another point towards the total we have to get.”

For Moyes, whose team lie six points clear of West Ham United in sixth place, there was scant reward after he set a top-four finish, and with it qualification for the Champions League, as a pre-match incentive.

“I’m a bit frustrated that we didn’t do more, but it was always going to be tough,” Moyes said. “We don’t have a divine right to come to places like Blackburn and get three points.”

Blackburn Rovers (4-2-3-1): J Brown — A Ooijer, C Samba, R Nelsen, G Givet (sub: A Mokoena, 65min) — S Warnock, V Grella (sub: Tugay Kerimoglu, 46)— R Santa Cruz, K Andrews, El-Hadji Diouf (sub: K Treacy, 88) — J Roberts. Substitutes not used: M Bunn, D Dunn, B McCarthy, D Simpson. Booked: Givet.

Everton (4-4-1-1): T Howard — P Jagielka, J Yobo, J Lescott, L Baines — L Osman, P Neville, J Rodwell (sub: L Saha, 71), S Pienaar — T Cahill — Jô (sub: M Fellaini, 76). Substitutes not used: C Nash, A van der Meyde, S Castillo, L Jacobsen, D Gosling.

Referee: A Wiley.