Elmia United 0 Blackburn Rovers 2 - Peter White's match verdict

IT MIGHT not seem the same without Stuart Ripley roaming the touchline next season and Damien Duff and Jason Wilcox are two of the prominent members of Ewood's current lengthy casualty list.

But there was evidence in Jonkoping on Saturday that Blackburn Rovers have two young pretenders ready to make their mark.

A Rovers side studded with inexperience enjoyed a comfortable victory over a representative team drawn from Sweden's lower division clubs.

And the stars of the show - in addition to a vibrant Garry Flitcroft - were wingers Jim Corbett and Damien Johnson.

The duo shared the goals and delighted a small but enthusiastic crowd with the kind of mature performances which bely their teenage years.

Corbett, certainly, looks a quick learner and comfortably at home despite the step up to play alongside Premiership stars.

Meanwhile Johnson, a youth team ally of Duff in the past, could be set to follow in his former team mate's footsteps. A loan spell at Nottingham Forest last season has clearly helped the 19-year-old to develop and he showed, albeit in a friendly against moderate opposition, that he has what it takes.

Even though he is a naturally right sided player, Johnson turned out on the left for the second time on Rovers' pre-season tour and his performance would have helped manager Roy Hodgson to rest easily.

The two teenagers caught the eye in a patchwork Rovers side led by another highly satisfactory performance from stand-in skipper Flitcroft who held everything together with a non-stop display.

To be frank, the opposition did not look the strongest, but Rovers' prime concern was to take another step along the road to match fitness and sharpness.

In that respect, it was an afternoon well spent.

They were also able to get Callum Davidson back in action and he will clearly be a chief contender for the left back spot in the coming season.

In attack, all four available strikers were used during the game. Martin Dahlin, now seemingly over his back trouble, has looked quite sharp on this tour and was instrumental in setting up both goals.

Record signing Kevin Davies, however, has yet to find his feet or his touch. He went on in the second half but struggled to make an impression. Davies should benefit from a full game tonight as the preparations gather pace. Robbed of so many players, for various reasons, Hodgson in any case sees this tour as being aimed at fitness and he will probably use the games in England to provide more clues about the side he will field in the Premiership.

That is why too much should not be read into it.

But there were a number of plus points.

Rovers began brightly enough, although their build-up was, at times, too ponderous.

They went ahead with an excellent goal as early as the seventh minute.

It was yet another non-regular Wayne Gill who did the crucial work, winning a confrontation on the right.

Gill knocked a pass into Dahlin who cleverly held the ball before setting up Johnson for a decisive right foot strike.

That helped settle them down and, although the Elmia team had occasional moments when they might have caused problems, Rovers were generally in control.

Johnson made one of his trademark mazy runs before being foiled by the goalkeeper and Dahlin was only just too high after creating space for himself. But the second goal duly arrived in the 33rd minute, and again, Dahlin was the provider.

Corbett made a good run inside, Per Pedersen helped the ball on to Dahlin and, for the second time, he laid it off perfectly for Corbett to finish with a fierce left foot drive which took a slight deflection. Elmia's main opportunities came when Rovers, who had by far the bulk of the possession, gave the ball away in moments of carelessness.

The closest they came was in the 38th minute when Marlon Broomes was on hand to hack the ball off the line.

In the second half, it seemed to be a question of how many Rovers might score, but their work in the final third lacked the sort of quality often absent at this stage of the build-up.

Gary Croft was just too high, Broomes had a header cleared off the line and Dahlin was thwarted by a good save from the sub keeper.

Then Johnson swopped passes with Dahlin and found his way blocked too.

Second half substitute Davies might have got his head to a cross after great work by Corbett and Johnson and both Corbett and Chris Sutton went close in the dying minutes.

So too did Elmia's Jonas Rydh against a Rovers defence which included Darren Peacock for much of the game but was not often severely tested.

The result, really, was irrelevant. The most important thing was that Hodgson could take comfort from several individual performances not to mention an injury-free ride.

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