mBLACKBURN Rovers today triumphed in a key High Court round of their seven-year fight for an insurance payout over the career-ending injury suffered by Swedish forward Martin Dahlin.

The club had Dahlin insured for £4million, and today's victory paves the way for the club to receive a payout which will come as a welcome boost for manager Mark Hughes - who will hope to improve his squad in the January transfer window.

Rovers won a ruling that when insurers exclude injuries caused by arthritis or other degenerative conditions in policies, these do not cover "ordinary wear and tear" suffered by the majority of players of the same age.

Judge Mr Justice Moore-Bick backed the club in a preliminary skirmish with insurers Avon Insurance PLC, Eagle Star Insurance Company Ltd, AGF Insurance Ltd and IC Insurance Ltd.

The insurers refused to pay out after Dahlin, now 36, suffered a back injury during a practice match in October, 1997 that the judge said "effectively put an end to his professional career". They claimed disablement had not been caused by the injury alone, but resulted directly or indirectly from a degenerative disc condition of the lower spine, and was therefore not covered by the policy.

The club challenged the insurers' position, arguing that the exclusion relating to degenerative conditions was not to be construed as including such degenerative changes as are typical in the majority of men of the age of Dahlin, who was 29 at the time of the injury.

It claimed that the exclusion was not to be construed as referring to the degree of degeneration that is no worse than is normally found in players of that age.

And today, the judge ruled that degenerative changes that are typical of the male population of Dahlin's age and typical of top-class professional footballers of that age are to be disregarded for the purposes of the policy.

The case will now proceed to full trial, where the judge said there will remain disputes between the club and the insurers over the precise nature of Dahlin's injury, the extent to which he suffered from pre-existing disc degeneration and the extent to which that contributed to his injury. Nevertheless, today's ruling constitutes a major step forward in Blackburn's battle to secure a payout under the policy.