PAUL WHEELOCK VERDICT: Oxford United 0 Blackburn Rovers 3

Music, for many, can capture the mood and when it comes to feelings of finality, one song does it for me every time.

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Ending with the words, ‘this is the start of what was’, it is a song about how you can either move on or dwell on the things you cannot change.

It’s called ‘Empty Cans’ by The Streets. In hindsight, however, I should have dug deeper into my record collection.

Given the events of yesterday, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ by The Who would have sufficed. Well, for its title, at least, if not its meaning.

Is Rhodes going? Is Rhodes staying? You would not blame Rovers fans for feeling completely drained by the speculation that surrounds their star striker in every single transfer window.

And, in this latest, most dramatic case, that is a crying shame as the magnificent 1,500-strong blue and white army which roared their team on at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday came away feeling enthused.

You have to take into consideration the opposition, of course.

The bookies’ had made Oxford favourites to progress to the last 16 and add Rovers to the lengthy list of cup scalps they have claimed this season.

But long before the final whistle Michael Appleton’s League Two high flyers looked every one of the 32 places they are below their Championship opponents in the Football League standings.

Professional and impressive Rovers were worthy winners and they offered proof that if their top-scorer does go, there will be life after him, and if he does stay, he will have more support and competition up front.

Tony Watt and, especially, Simeon Jackson were excellent in Rhodes’ notable absence.

For the first 35 minutes Watt could not get into the game and, when he did actually get on the ball, his touch let him down.

But then for 10 minutes before half-time he was a joy to behold.

His sharp turn up and pass set-up Jackson to win the penalty that two-goal hero Ben Marshall converted to send Rovers on their way to the most comfortable of FA Cup fourth-round victories.

He then led and so nearly finished a rapid breakaway move before he did get on the scoresheet with a thrilling run and finish.

If this is what Watt can do when he is not fully fit, then we are in for a treat.

Jackson was not afforded the chance to receive the standing ovation granted to his strike-partner when Watt was replaced in the second half.

But there is no doubt that the Canada international would have also left the field to rapturous applause had he come off.

And, had it not been fit-again right-back Marshall, who rounded off the scoring with an absolute peach of a free kick, Jackson would have walked away with the man-of-the-match honours after a performance packed with pace, power and purpose.

That said there could have been no complaints had Watt’s fellow debutant Elliott Ward claimed the honour.

The calm and composed centre-back was the pick of a rock-solid backline that earned Rovers their first clean sheet in seven matches.

Apart from a Liam Sercombe shot in the first half, which Jason Steele did well to push past the post, Oxford did not have a sniff.

Indeed from the moment Marshall broke the deadlock from the spot there was never any danger of the U’s repeating the huge upset they pulled off when the clubs clashed in the FA Cup fifth round at the old Manor Ground in 1964.

And the manner of Rovers’ success was certainly more straightforward than the one they achieved over the same opponents, and at the same stage of the competition, exactly 31 years earlier.

The only criticism you could level at Paul Lambert’s side is they did not make their joint biggest win of the season even more emphatic.

Elliott Bennett tried to set-up Watt for a second goal when he should have pulled the trigger himself, the departing Tom Lawrence blazed over after a powerful surge into the box, and Jackson saw one effort saved and headed another over.

Make no mistake, Rovers certainly tried to rub it in having been riled by the odds and by some of the comments that had come out of the Oxford camp ahead of the tie.

Playing fired-up certainly suited last season’s beaten quarter-finalists.

Now they have to take that attitude into next Saturday’s league trip to, of all places, Middlesbrough, who not for the first time, thought they could prise away Rovers’ leading marksman.

Whether Rhodes starts after this, though, is another matter entirely, and he could be the one left singing a song of sorrow.