Rovers 4, Portsmouth 0

THE television advert tells us that Worthington is a man thing.

And, for James Thomas at least, this tie against Portsmouth represented the progression from footballing adolescence to manhood.

The Welsh under 21 striker has endured a long apprenticeship at Ewood, returning to Rovers after a loan spell at Blackpool last season.

After fluffing an easy chance late in the game against Sheffield United on Friday, it would have been easy to shirk his responsibilities on his big night.

But on his full debut Thomas tore into Portsmouth with the energetic innocence of a sixth former on his first drinking binge.

And he was not on his own as a handful of Rovers players who have been kept on the fringes for the most of the season staked their claims for a starting position against Bolton on Saturday, when the real business resumes.

Rovers were never stretched in all but cementing their place in the third round Worthington Cup draw, despite the onerous and needless trip to the south coast next week.

Tony Pulis, the Portsmouth manager, will clearly not be relishing another men against boys encounter such as this.

For Graeme Souness' side were always in command, hardly suffered a scare and could have helped themselves to a hatful against a ramshackle outfit.

That is not to take anything away from those players who responded to the challenge laid down by Souness, for them to force their way into his reckoning.

And top of that list was Lee Carsley, who ran the midfield show and capped off a commanding display as stand-in skipper for the rested Garry Flitcroft with a stunning opening strike.

Next in line was Damien Johnson. Souness seems to be the first manager to have recognised Johnson's best position, buzzing around in the centre of the park.

Granted, competition for those slots is fierce, but Johnson rarely puts a foot wrong, is destructive in an innocuous manner and is a clever distributor of the ball.

Egil Ostenstad also showed that he has the will to fight for his future, and the ball, in a tireless display which, on another night, might have resulted in a hat-trick.

The defence that started against Sheffield, with the exception of Alan Kelly, was given another chance to bed down following the arrival of Henning Berg, although the impending arrival of Lucien Mettomo could well upset that formula by Saturday.

Even regular starters like Damien Duff and Jason McAteer seized the chance to play themselves into a bit more form.

But all this was no coincidence. For, while Thomas left the ground clutching his man-of the-match champagne with a smile as wide as Ewood Park, the reason behind a vastly improved team performance was that Rovers used the width of Ewood Park.

Souness has so far preferred a 4-3-3 starting line-up in the league, which can switch to 4-4-2 if circumstances dictate.

Too often, though, that has allowed the opposition to gain the upper hand. Against Portsmouth, the starting formation engaged a four-man midfield, which made all the difference. Duff was back hugging his beloved touchline, the front two were more free to make runs down the channels and the full backs looked to have more outlet options.

And, even though Portsmouth attempted to deploy a five-man midfield while defending, Rovers always had men spare.

So, even before Carsley's opener, Portsmouth were sending distress signals. The goal arrived after a stupid challenge by Shaun Derry on Ostenstad which produced a free-kick on the edge of the area.

Now, this was what our set-piece watch was invented for! A three-man Rovers wall blocked the view of the Portsmouth defence before McAteer poked the ball sideways for Carsley to smash a crisp 20-yard shot into Russell Hoult's left-hand corner before the keeper could shout 'Abandon ship!'

Within two minutes the lead was doubled when Ostenstad skipped down the right, reached the byline and dragged the ball back to Thomas, whose first time left foot shot was angled perfectly across Hoult.

The Norwegian had a chance to make it three when cleverly fed through by Stig Inge Bjornebye but his left foot drive clipped the top of the crossbar.

The third, shortly after the interval, typified the free-flowing form that Rovers had rediscovered.

Thomas' first time ball found John Curtis in space and the full back pressed forward with conviction before delivering a perfect cross which evaded Derry and allowed Ostenstad to power a diving header home from close range.

Portsmouth's only chance of the night fell to Mladen Rudonja after a hopeful ball bounced awkwardly over substitute Jeff Kenna, only for the Slovenian international to strike his shot against the foot of the post.

Rovers then wrapped up the scoring after 60 minutes with the best move of the game.

It all started when Duff wriggled out of trouble in a central area after being fed by Carsley. A quick ball out to Kenna was swiftly returned down the line and the Irishman's curling low cross was met by Thomas, sliding in at the far post.

McAteer, with his second close range header of the night and Ostenstad might have added to that tally before the end.

But this was not a night for greed. A four-pack was plenty, thank you very much.