LEON Best was stretchered off for Blackburn Rovers in this afternoon's pre-season friendly as they beat AEK Athens 2-1 at Fleetwood.

Rovers' £3million summer signing went down holding his knee on 40 minutes and, after a five minute delay, was carried off the field.

He will undergo scans tomorrow as Rovers hope their £3million summer signing is not facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines. The early signs are understood to be promising.

Rovers led 2-0 at the break from a Nuno Gomes header and a brilliant Best curling strike with little happening after the break as Athens got back in the game.

Rovers struck the first blow on just six minutes as Nunes Gomes rose well at the far post to head home Marcus Olsson's left wing cross.

Leon Best had a goal ruled out for offside minutes later, after Gael Givet had headed against the bar, with Rovers dominating a tired looking Athens side.

The lead was doubled just before the half hour mark through a brilliant strike from Best. The striker latched on to a raking through ball from Murphy, to cut inside and bend a shot into the corner.

The positivity from the first half drained out of hosts on 40 minutes though as Leon Best was stretchered off with a serious looking knee injury.

A much-changed Rovers struggled to get going after the break and AEK Athens pulled a goal back through Nikolaos Kourelas, who got in behind Adam Henley, with 13 minutes remaining.

ROVERS: Paul Robinson (Jake Kean 46), Bradley Orr (Edinho 74), Josh Morris, Grant Hanley, Gael Givet (Scott Dann 46), Bruno Ribeiro, Danny Murphy (Jason Lowe 46), Paulo Jorge, Marcus Olsson (Fabio Nunes 74), Leon Best (Mauro Formica 40), Nuno Gomes (David Dunn 46) SUBS: David Goodwillie, Radosav Petrovic, Adam Henley, Ruben Rochina, Jason Lowe,