WHEN Jordan Rhodes put the ball down on the penalty spot in front of an expectant Ronnie Clayton Blackburn End, 61 minutes in to Saturday’s Roses clash against his former club, the stage was perfectly set.

This was the moment that the usually reliable Rhodes would celebrate his 100th league appearance for the club with the goal that would set Rovers on their way to the win they badly needed.

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But then something extraordinary happened.

Rhodes missed.

Gary Bowyer, speaking after the match, was right to absolve his star striker from blame.

How many times has Rhodes got Rovers out of jail since his club record move from Huddersfield?

A remarkable return of 56 Championship goals, including five in his previous four meetings with the club where he forged his feared reputation, is more than enough to let his aberration from 12 yards slide.

But his failure to convert the best of the numerous chances his side created and wasted on a vexing afternoon at an audibly frustrated Ewood Park in many ways summed up Rovers’ season so far.

After the desperately disappointing defeat – and abject first-half performance – at the New York Stadium we got the greatly improved defensive display and clean sheet that we all called for.

No mean feat, either, against a rejuvenated Terriers team who came into the game on the back of a superb win at Wolves side who had not been beaten at home in the league in nine months.

But while one end of the field was in good working order, the other, surprisingly, was not and, even without the talismanic presence of injured top scorer Rudy Gestede, Rovers had more than enough opportunities to have ended an unsatisfactory week with the victory that would have lifted supporters’ spirits going into the international break.

There is no getting away from the fact that a return of two of points from matches against Watford, Rotherham and Huddersfield is poor.

And it leaves Rovers exactly slap bang in the middle of the table with 15 points from a possible 33.

That is exactly the same tally that they had acquired at this stage of last season too.

There is no question 12 months down the line that Rovers boss Bowyer and his coaching staff have, to their credit, reshaped and assembled a squad that is stronger in almost every department.

Thus far, however, there have been no discernible improvement in results, and it has led fans, particularly on social media, to ask whether they can take their talented but inconsistent team to the next level and better last season’s eighth-place finish.

With around three quarters of the campaign still to play there is plenty of time to prove they can and, compared to this time a year ago, the gap to top spot is not 11 points but a more surmountable six.

But let’s not get carried away.

First things first we need Rovers to climb into the play-off positions, even if only for one week, rather than forever being on the fringes of them.

As things stand they find themselves four points off the top six.

It should be two.

While not playing particularly well or fluently on Saturday Rovers were much better than they had been against Rotherham – though that was not hard – and only a combination of wasteful finishing and good goalkeeping from Alex Smithies prevented them from getting the win.

Jason Steele, in contrast to Smithies, had very little to do and that owed everything to the defenders in front of him and, in particular, the outstanding Shane Duffy.

Rovers set their stall out in the opening exchanges when Ryan Tunnicliffe, Craig Conway and most impressively, Markus Olsson, when denying Nahki Wells a certain goal, made vital and brave blocks.

The first half, and the Terriers, started brightly.

But, after a couple of stoppages for injuries, it quickly lost its fizz and never truly recovered.

That said Rovers had the chances to kick start it back into life with Smithies gathering a Ben Marshall free kick at the second attempt before he saw the fit-again but not 100 per cent Tom Cairney whistle a shot past his post following a swift counter-attack led by Josh King.

King did well on his recall.

But he should have marked it with a goal and either side of half-time he headed one cross wide, from strike-partner Rhodes, and another, from the inside of Marshall’s right boot, on to the bar.

Captain Grant Hanley also wasted two excellent headed opportunities from Conway corners.

However the best opening fell to Rhodes after Grant Holt, who escaped a second booking, raised his left arm to handle a Conway free kick flighted into the box.

But, with Smithies diving the right way, Rhodes dragged his penalty horribly wide.

Rhodes had the chance to make amends almost immediately, after a raking pass down the line from Marshall.

But he was denied by Smithies with Mark Hudson doing brilliantly to prevent King from tapping in the rebound.

Smithies went on to better that save, spectacularly pushing aside a thunderous drive from Lee Williamson and winning his one-on-one with King after Cairney had dissected the Huddersfield defence.

And, as far as Rovers went, that was that.

Instead it was the Terriers, after receiving let off after let off, who ended the contest on the front foot and, after Jacob Butterfield skimmed the bar and after Hanley was on hand to clear the danger after Steele spilled a Harry Bunn long ranger, Wells somehow headed over with the goal at his mercy.