Swin Low

Commiserations, you've just been Shearer-ed!

The man who so often lifts an everyday game onto a higher level through the sheer quality of his finishing did it again to ensure Blackburn Rovers cruised reasonably comfortably through to the third round of the Coca-Cola Cup.

And that will give manager Ray Harford some cause for comfort as he reflects a week today on the fourth anniversary of his and Kenny Dalglish's arrival at Ewood.

He certainly won't be short of things to think about and how far the club has come in such a relatively short space of time.

Thanks to last night's lift, he will also reach the anniversary on a successful note - as in previous years.

Swindon Town weren't poor opposition and worked tremendously hard to match Rovers.

But they couldn't match Alan Shearer on a night which also saw a rebirth of some of the Blues.

Swindon player-manager Steve McMahon put it in a nutshell when he said: "He's the best in England without a shadow of a doubt. "Blackburn have been struggling but he's still scoring goals. That's the sign of a quality striker.

"They hadn't hurt us yet we found ourselves 1-0 behind. You can't keep a good man down."

The first of Shearer's two goals after 37 minutes virtually ensured the tie was over, as Rovers held a 3-2 advantage from the game at the County Ground.

Swindon, who had clearly come to Ewood to keep it as tight as they could and hope to snatch one on the break, weren't able to raise their game to a high enough level - try though they did - or change their game plan sufficiently to make a difference.

And that enabled Rovers to regain some of the confidence which has so clearly been lacking in many of their performances this season.

Stuart Ripley returned to the side and looked much happier. How good it was to see him charging down that right flank again as Rovers, operating with a sweeper system, slightly modified it to accommodate the winger.

Jeff Kenna, who has taken a few games to regain his touch and fitness after a false start to the campaign caused by injury in the Charity Shield, did a quietly efficient job on the opposite flank. Paul Warhurst took another major step forward on the road to becoming a fully functional member of the senior squad again.

He played the whole of the second half as substitute for injured David Batty to mark substantial progress in his rehabilitation from a second broken leg.

And Chris Sutton looks born to the role of sweeper as Rovers play it.

Not only did he read the game well, intercept and tackle to fulfil all his defensive duties, Harford's insistence that Rovers do not operate the sweeper system as a negative tactic was borne out on several occasions. The central trio of Sutton, Ian Pearce and Colin Hendry took it in turns to sweep forward whenever the opportunity arose.

It wasn't really a game to set the pulses racing, primarily a question of seeing which team would get the first goal and then we would know the direction it would probably take.

After just 17 minutes, Bobby Mimms dashed recklessly from goal to the corner of the penalty area when there were defenders around to challenge Wayne Allison's break.

Mimms didn't get there but, fortunately, Allison's quickly-hit shot bounced just wide.

That was the bit of luck Rovers needed and was really Swindon's only serious first half threat until Mimms had to make a super save to touch over Wayne O'Sullivan's shot.

In contrast, Rovers forced seven corners and from the last, Ripley's cross skimmed off the head of Mike Newell and Shearer, charging in, headed down past Fraser Digby from 10 yards. The second half was a similar story, with not too many really good openings but a number of Rovers corners.

Mimms had another splendid save to make but Rovers looked capable of increasing their lead and so it proved.

Swindon's offside trap looked vulnerable on a number of occasions and was beaten seven minutes from time when Shearer timed his run just right to collect Hendry's well-judged through ball.

Cutting in from the left, it looked difficult as Digby kept his nerve and the angle tight.

But the master wasn't for missing.

He waited until the last possible moment before dinking the ball expertly around Digby and into the far side netting.

With a minute to go, Warhurst almost marked his first home appearance with a goal from an exquisite chip which produced an excellent response from Digby.

You wonder why McMahon is so determined to sign a new keeper for Swindon when he has a man like Digby who, over the years, has always seemed to perform at his peak against Rovers.

Not a night of high cup drama by any means. Not a game that will live too long in the memory.

But a welcome and deserved passage to the third round was earned.

And, when you think that after about a quarter of the first leg at Swindon a fortnight earlier Rovers were two goals down to the Second Division leaders, Ewood fans were quite happy to accept an ordinary win supplied by more extraordinary finishing. He played the whole of the second half as substitute for injured David Batty to mark substantial progress in his rehabilitation from a second broken leg.

And Chris Sutton looks born to the role of sweeper as Rovers play it.

Not only did he read the game well, intercept and tackle to fulfil all his defensive duties, Harford's insistence that Rovers do not operate the sweeper system as a negative tactic was borne out on several occasions.

The central trio of Sutton, Ian Pearce and Colin Hendry took it in turns to sweep forward whenever the opportunity arose.

It wasn't really a game to set the pulses racing, primarily a question of seeing which team would get the first goal and then we would know the direction it would probably take.

If there were any neutrals at Ewood, I suspect they would have preferred it to go to Swindon to spark the tie. And it almost did.

After just 17 minutes, Bobby Mimms dashed recklessly from goal to the corner of the penalty area when there were defenders around to challenge Wayne Allison's break.

Mimms didn't get there but, fortunately, Allison's quickly-hit shot bounced just wide.

That was the bit of luck Rovers needed and was really Swindon's only serious first half threat until Mimms had to make super save to touch over Wayne O'Sullivan's shot.

In contrast, Rovers forced seven corners and from the last, Ripley's cross skimmed off the head of Mike Newell and Shearer, charging in, headed down past Fraser Digby from 10 yards. The second half was a similar story, with not too many really good openings but a number of Rovers corners.

Mimms had another splendid save to make but Rovers looked capable of increasing their lead and so it proved.

Swindon's offside trap looked vulnerable on a number of occasions and was beaten seven minutes from time when Shearer timed his run just right to collect Hendry's well-judged through ball.

Cutting in from the left, it looked difficult as Digby kept his nerve and the angle tight.

But the master wasn't for missing.

He waited until the last possible moment before dinking the ball expertly around Digby and into the far side netting.

With a minute to go, Warhurst almost marked his first home appearance with a goal from an exquisite chip which produced an excellent response from Digby.

You wonder why McMahon is so determined to sign a new keeper for Swindon when he has a man like Digby who, over the years, has always seemed to perform at his peak against Rovers.

Not a night of high cup drama by any means. Not a game that will live too long in the memory.

But a welcome and deserved passage to the third round was earned.

And, when you think that after about a quarter of the first leg at Swindon a fortnight earlier Rovers were two goals down to the Second Division leaders, Ewood fans were quite happy to accept an ordinary win supplied by more extraordinary finishing.

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