Thommo rides to the rescue

BLACKBURN Rovers midfielder David Thompson last night revealed how the amazing story of Lance Armstrong has helped him to get his career back on track.

Over the last 18 months, Thompson has been to Hell and back after a catalogue of injury problems have restricted him to just a handful of first team appearances.

There were times when the 27-year-old feared he might never play again at the highest level as he battled to overcome serious knee and ankle injuries.

But through all his struggles, Thompson has managed to draw inspiration from the incredible exploits of American cyclist Armstrong, the five times Tour De France winner who courageously overcame testicular cancer.

And that new inner strength came to the fore here as the former Liverpool and Coventry star climbed off the bench to inspire a quite incredible Rovers fight-back when all looked lost.

Birmingham were leading 3-1 and seemingly heading towards only their third Premiership victory of the season when Thompson entered the fray from the substitutes' bench in the 57th minute.

Within seconds of his arrival, the gritty midfielder had conjured a goal for Steven Reid that signalled the start of Rovers' gutsy fight-back.

Then six minutes later, another killer Thompson pass led to an equaliser for Paul Gallagher as Rovers came back from the dead to snatch an unlikely point.

It was a satisfying night's work for a player who had forgotten what it's like to star on the Premiership stage.

Thompson has spent most of the last season and a half on the outside looking in, his nose pressed up against the window, desperate to be a part of the action.

Lesser characters would have had their spirit shattered by so many setbacks but this chirpy Scouser is made of sterner stuff.

In the depths of his despair, it was reading about the experiences of people like Armstrong that helped to pull Thompson through.

In fact, the American's book, 'It's Not About The Bike', made such a lasting impression on the Rovers player that he now wears a yellow wrist band with Armstrong's name inscribed on it in support of the cyclist's cancer charity.

Thompson himself, of course, would never dream of comparing himself to Armstrong.

But he can relate to certain elements of his fellow sportsman's story and he has used that to overcome adversity in his own life.

"There's more downs than there is ups (in football) but you've just got to get on with it," said Thompson.

"There's two ways you can go. You can either fold and try not to come back or you can dig deep and try to come back stronger and that's what I've tried to do."

Without Thompson to drag his team-mates along by the scruff of the neck, it would have been difficult to see how Rovers could have got anything out of this game.

For once, Mark Hughes' side got off to a flyer courtesy of Matt Jansen's early strike but then the defence capitulated as Birmingham, who had only scored eight goals all season in the Premiership before yesterday, raced into a 3-1 half-time lead.

Defensively, Rovers were a shambles as Darren Anderton, Robbie Savage and David Dunn scored three of the easiest goals you are ever likely to see and even the staunchest Blackburn fan would have struggled to see a way back at half-time.

But if this Rovers side has one quality then it's character in abundance and, led by the brilliant Thompson who looked to get the ball forward early at every opportunity, they somehow clawed their way back from a losing position for the fourth successive game.

"We gave ourselves another mountain to climb and we can't continue to do that," said Hughes.

"It's impossible to ask the lads to keep on coming back when we give ourselves too much to do.

"There's only so many times in a season you can do that."

It took Rovers just four minutes to penetrate one of the Premiership's meanest defences. Reid slid a pass across the edge of the area that Paul Dickov dummied for Jansen, and the striker's instinctive shot packed too much punch for Maik Taylor.

The lead lasted just 13 minutes before Birmingham were level.

Dunn, Clinton Morrison and Jesper Gronkjaer all traded passes before the latter crossed from the right. Dunn tried to roll Nissa Johansson in the area, and as the ball broke loose, Anderton stole in undetected to stab a close-range shot beyond Brad Friedel.

Confidence visibly drained from Rovers after that and they began to flounder in a sea of misplaced passes, eventually conceding again in the 38th minute when Lucas Neill, under no pressure on the right, gave the ball straight to Gronkjaer.

Play was then switched to Mario Melchiot on the opposite flank and the Dutchman powered his way past Jay McEveley before crossing for Savage to score with an acrobatic volley after Reid had fluffed his clearance.

Worse was to follow deep into first half injury time when McEveley got dragged out of position on the left, which created an ocean of space for Melchiot to race into and his low cross was dummied by Morrison for Dunn, who made no mistake from 10 yards.

At that point, it was impossible to see a way back for Rovers but the introduction of Gallagher at the beginning of the second half gave them fresh impetus up front.

It was Thompson's arrival from the bench in the 57th minute, however, that ultimately proved the catalyst for the revival.

The midfielder had been on the pitch a matter of seconds when he controlled a pass from Dickov and promptly released Reid, who strode confidently forward before thumping a shot past Taylor via the aid of a Matthew Upson deflection.

Suddenly, it was Birmingham's turn to suffer an attack of the jitters and Thompson took full advantage again six minutes later.

His incisive first time pass over the Blues' defence left Dickov in a straight race with Kenny Cunningham and as Taylor came out to smother the danger, the Rovers striker squeezed a shot goal-wards.

In the ensuing scramble, Gallagher reacted quickest to force the ball over the line from a yard out for his first Premiership goal of the season.

By now, Rovers had the bit firmly between their teeth but in a rare breakaway, Savage struck a post with an overhead kick.

Nevertheless, Rovers looked the more likely victors in the closing stages and their big chance came in the last minute when Thompson dummied a pass from Ferguson that left Dickov in the clear but the striker took a touch too many and Taylor made the save.