FROM the highs of a last-gasp leveller to the lows of a last-kick sucker-punch, Rovers fans have gone from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other in the space of a week.

When Claude Dielna’s speculative shot took a nick off Corry Evans and flew into the net, deep into injury-time on Saturday, it was nothing short of gut-wrenching.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But you can count on one hand the amount of times watching Rovers this calendar year has truly ruined your weekend and made the thought of watching the Football League Show unbearable.

Indeed this was only Gary Bowyer’s side’s fifth defeat on a Saturday or Sunday in 2014. It was also their first loss in 10 games and just their fifth in their last 32 in the Championship.

A little perspective, therefore, is required.

It must also be said that Wednesday’s 93rd-minute winner, coming a matter of seconds before dreadful referee Stephen Martin was about to blow his final whistle, owed as much to luck as to slack pressing.

But what goes around comes around and if fortune was not on Rovers’ side then it certainly was at the Riverside one week earlier when two fouls went unpunished in the lead up to their dramatic equaliser.

Fortune was also on their side the week before that when the softest of penalties allowed them to snatch the unlikeliest and sweetest of Roses victories.

But the strand linking all three matches together? Rovers have not played particularly well in any of them.

You could throw in Brighton and Millwall before that too.

Now no-one cares a jot about performances as long as the results are good and, to their credit, Rovers have certainly been delivering on that front. Wins at home and draws away, it has been promotion form.

But they were knocked off track here, though, and the criticism they came in for afterwards, not least from their disappointed manager, was fair.

From Jason Steele in goal to Rudy Gestede up front, too many players were simply not at the races.

Yes defeat was ultimately harsh because, as hardworking as the Owls were, they hardly threatened the recalled Steele.

But if you defend as badly as Rovers did for both of the goals they conceded then you can have no complaints.

The first came about from a slow start and the second from a lack of desire to close down an attempt from distance.

They are deficiencies that have been part of Rovers’ make-up for too long now.

It is just this time their resilience and ability to get a goal out of nowhere could not save them.

One look at Wednesday’s excellent away record beforehand would have told you this was never going to be a walk in the park.

They were helped, though, by Rovers’ continuing inability to begin a match on the front foot.

Yes Jordan Rhodes netted the first of his two disallowed first-half goals inside 25 seconds.

But it was Stuart Gray’s side who were the faster out of the blocks and they went in front in the third minute after Stevie May got in behind and fired in a shot the recalled Steele spilled horribly into the path of Kieran Lee to do the rest.

Rovers levelled 12 minutes later when Rhodes cleverly headed the ball down for Alex Baptiste to stab in his first goal at Ewood Park and second of the season.

While Steele went on to deny the lively May, after another long ball over the top, it was Westwood who would prove to be the busier keeper.

And when he was beaten, by a lovely glancing Rhodes header, he was rescued by the post.

The Owls also went close with a headed opportunity of their own before the opening period was out, Glenn Loovens flicking just over.

Then, after Westwood got down low to his left to turn behind a Shane Duffy header, Loovens twice got away with pushes in the box.

By that stage Rovers had thrown on Ryan Tunnicliffe for Lee Williamson and home debutant Chris Brown for out-of-sorts top-scorer Gestede.

Tunnicliffe forced Westwood into a flying save with a superbly struck volley before another substitute, David Dunn, who showed in his short cameo appearance why he should still have a role to play, flashed a cross-shot wide.

If one side looked like winning it, it was Rovers.

It came as a body blow, then, when Dielna, with one of his first touches of the ball since coming on as substitute in stoppage time was afforded time and space 20 yards from goal.

Rovers had almost forgotten what it was like to lose. This was a painful reminder