The first fifteen minutes would have made watching paint dry seem like a life-changing experience but after that, to their credit, Blues played some really excellent football in short spells. The trio of Dan Cowley, the increasing influence of Villablanca and young Jude Bellingham were to the fore; in the latter’s case how good it is to see such a talented young player willing to chase back with vigor. It was no surprise, then, that they were involved in a superbly fluid move which saw Maxime Colin head home.

After the restart, the same pattern ensued with the addition of a Rovers purple patch for an unsettling ten minutes, midway through the half.

Luckily Blues held firm and a word for Marc Roberts. who won some towering headers in the game both against the slightly ineffectual ex-Blue Sam Gallagher, and the more awkward and rumbustious Danny Graham.

Near the end we suffered a short spell of the nervous nineties but were unlucky not to be out of sight before then with several near misses and saves by the opposition keeper plus the woodwork when the Juke sent in a screamer.

Finally it was good to see Josh McEachran come on and give a decent account of himself and the trickery of sub Jacque Maghoma, who set the Blackburn defence a new set of problems.