HIS head was smarting from thumping a header into the opposition net, and his ears still ringing with the cheers of a packed Ewood faithful sensing a stirring second half fightback.

But as Ken Beamish made his way into the Ewood Park dressing room he was to be given an unusual half-time reward for netting the goal that had pulled Blackburn back into the promotion four-pointer against fellow championship chasers Plymouth Argyle.

He was switched from centre forward to the right wing!

However, Beamish wasn't surprised by Gordon Lee's tactical switch and it proved to be a masterstroke.

"We used to do that regularly at half-time. We'd play three up front and I'd switch to the right to leave Don Martin and Mike Hickman up front.

"I was asked to go wide on this occasion and in the second half we just steamed through them."

Martin and Hickman scored two goals each in the second half as Rovers stormed to a 5-2 win - and to the top of the old Division Three on February 15, 1975.

They would only lose one more game that season and remained on top to clinch the championship.

And the importance of the victory over a Plymouth side that contained a young Paul Mariner was etched into the final standings as Rovers finished just one point ahead of Argyle.

So it's not surprising that Beamish's strike on the stroke of half-time is still considered to be the catalyst to Rovers avenging their 2-1 defeat at Home Park just 11 days earlier.

Beamish added: "The game lingers in people's memories, not just because of the importance of it, but because we were 2-0 down.

"It was Fortress Ewood and to be 2-0 down to your strongest enemy, it was looking a bit hairy for us.

"But pulling one goal back always gives you a chance and with the character and spirit we had in our lads, we went from strength to strength."

Beamish, signed from Brighton at the start of that season, was one of a number of players Lee drafted in to mould a championship-winning side exactly 20 years before Shearer, Sutton and company would lift the Premiership crown.

"It was the best team I ever played in," added Beamish, now 55. "Gordon brought in a bunch of lads that just gelled socially and they all loved football.

"More than half of that team went into coaching and management so it shows you the desire they had for the game.

"The place was so bubbly and there were never any depressing moments. Even when we lost 6-3 to Hereford that season Gordon just told us it was a bad day at the office and to put it behind us."

Beamish left Rovers for Port Vale in 1977, playing for Bury and his first club Tranmere before a spell coaching then managing Swindon Town.

After two years out of the football, he returned to Ewood in 1986 as commercial manager, a position he still holds today.

"I'm on the other side of the fence now," said Beamish. "But I'm enjoying being involved, it's a terrific job."