SUPER Swede 'Nissa' Johansson is the first to admit he's still having problems finding his way around Blackburn!

But the 20-year-old certainly discovered a route to goal last night after his sumptuous left-foot finish effectively secured Rovers' place in the Worthington Cup quarter-finals.

Johannson -- a £2.5 million bargain buy from German outfit Nuremberg -- hardly arrived at Ewood with an impressive goal-scoring pedigree.

In fact, when pressed to name his last senior goal he struggled to recall it!

But manager Graeme Souness will now be encouraging him to venture forward more often after watching his young defender conjure up a finish more in keeping with fellow countryman Henrik Larsson.

There looked to be little danger when he strode purposefully onto a pass from David Dunn on the stroke of half time.

But in the blink of an eye he then nutmegged Gerard Wiekens before thumping a thunderous left-foot strike beyond Carlo Nash which arrowed into the bottom far corner and edged Rovers a step closer to Cardiff.

"It's always nice to score goals and the first one for your new club is always very special," admitted the Swede.

"But I'm just glad it turned out to be an important one for the team because to win was the main thing.

"Perhaps we played it around too much at times and there were a lot of square passes.

"We are through to the quarter finals, though, and anything can happen now from here."

City fans have fond memories of Ewood after a 4-1 win on their last visit clinched promotion to the Premiership.

But last night's rematch soon developed into something of a Swede and sour affair for manager Kevin Keegan and his side's fanatical followers.

Johansson may have administered the knockout blow but the controversial sending off of French bad-boy Christian Negouai ultimately triggered City's downfall and left Keegan fuming.

Negouai -- a recent signing from Belgian outfit Charleroi -- arrived at Maine Road with a reputation as something of a wild man.

And, despite Keegan's arguments to the contrary, TV evidence later supported Sheffield referee Uriah Rennie's decision to show him a red card in the 26th minute.

Negouai had already been booked for chopping down Damien Johnson in the 12th minute when he then foolishly pulled back Tugay as the Turk glided past him 14 minutes later.

That left Rennie with no option but to reach for his top pocket and the visitors were always facing an uphill struggle after that.

"I don't care what the FA do, or how much it costs me, I'll always speak my mind," wrapped a furious Keegan afterwards.

"I'll show them a tape of the match if they want but here was a ref who has shown no common sense -- that's the nicest way I can put it.

"I just don't think he had to do what he did."

Despite their numerical advantage, Rovers didn't wrap things up, however, until deep into injury time when Damien Johnson finally added a second to put City out of their misery.

With several key men missing through injury, Graeme Souness's patched up side rarely hit top form against the First Division's kings of entertainment.

Tugay and David Dunn both struggled to stamp their authority on proceedings in midfield as Eyal Berkovic and Ali Benarbia took the game by the scruff of the neck in the opening half hour.

And, with Matt Jansen missing through illness up front, Rovers looked toothless in attack until the introduction of Egil Ostenstad pepped things up in the last half hour.

City, in contrast, bristled with invention going forward early on and could have been two up long before Johansson broke the deadlock for the home side.

Big American Brad Friedel made a brilliant point-blank block to deny Shaun Wright-Phillips after Benarbia cleverly dummied Darren Huckerby's cross.

And Benarbia himself then dragged another golden chance wide of Friedel's near post instead of picking out Berkovic who was completely unmarked.

Once Negouai departed, however, that left gaps for Rovers to exploit and Dunn went desperately close with a couple of long-range efforts -- the first drawing a fine save out of Nash before the second fizzed inches wide.

City failed to heed that warning and paid a heavy price when Johansson then stepped forward with a deadly finish of his own.

That should have opened the floodgates but, amazingly for one of Keegan's sides, City showed great discipline defensively after the break.

Berkovic nearly handed them a lifeline with a jinking run on the right but Kevin Horlock's shot struck a defender after another clever dummy by Benarbia.

Rovers, meanwhile, rarely looked like adding a second although Nash somehow saved Paul Ritchie from embarrassment when a cross from Damien Duff skimmed off the City sub's head and appeared destined for the top corner only for the former Clitheroe keeper to claw it safety.

Johansson and Co. did survive one late scare when jet-heeled forward Darren Huckerby outpaced the Rovers defence only to see his shot flash wide of Friedel's far post.

But it was left to Johnson to issue the last rites when he seized on a clever pull back from the sprightly Ostenstad in the dying seconds before applying an emphatic finish.

ROVERS...2 Scorers: Johansson 45, Johnson 90

MAN CITY...0

Attendance...17,907