An unexpected twist at Edgeley

GRAEME Souness's turbulent relationship with Dwight Yorke took another unexpected twist in the humble surroundings of Stockport's Edgeley Park last night.

Blackburn fans must have thought they had seen the last of Yorke in a Rovers shirt following his scathing attack on Souness in a Sunday tabloid 10 days ago.

But in one of the most dramatic U-turns of Souness's Blackburn career, the Rovers boss seems ready to forgive and forget after handing Yorke a shock recall against Sammy McIlroy's Coca Cola League One outfit.

Souness had decided to leave the former Manchester United striker at home when he took his squad off to Germany for a pre-season training camp a fortnight ago but he was surprisingly invited back into the fold against County last night.

And for large parts of the evening he looked the best player on the pitch as his touch and vision elevated him above the rest of his team-mates.

It remains to be seen if Souness's fragile relationship with Yorke has a long-term future or not.

At the moment, the pair appear to have agreed an uneasy truce but can these two contrasting figures really work together successfully after all that's been said and done over the last 12 months?

If Yorke continues to perform as he did here then perhaps the answer to that is yes.

The 32-year-old looked fit, sharp and most importantly 'up for it' on a night when Rovers' pre-season preparations grew in intensity.

He was the man who worried Stockport the most and he might have helped himself to a couple of goals had the ball dropped more kindly for him in the area.

The cynics, of course, will say that he only performed well last night because he's playing for a move and that may be true.

But we all know Yorke has talent. You don't become an integral part of a Manchester United side that won the treble without having something about you.

The question is can Rovers and Souness find a way of harnessing it?

If they can, then Yorke could well have a role to play in the coming season.

He was certainly the pick of the bunch last night but there were several other positives for Souness to take from another meaningful work-out.

Peter Enckelman did an excellent job standing in for Brad Friedel as Rovers maintained their record of not conceding a goal during pre-season.

And Dominic Matteo continues to shine in a holding midfield role where he provides excellent cover for his back four.

That allows Barry Ferguson to bomb forward from a more advanced midfield position and the former Rangers star appears to be growing stronger by the game.

It was Ferguson, in fact, who had Rovers' first chance when he let fly from 20 yards but his shot whistled inches wide of the post.

Before that, County had missed a golden opportunity to take a shock lead when Luke Beckett somehow headed wide with only Enckelman to beat.

From then on, it was all Rovers and Yorke was the man at the forefront of most of their best work.

In the 19th minute, he had a shot blocked by a defender from Lucas Neill's cross and then when the ball was returned into the area by Gresko, County keeper Neil Cutler did brilliantly to palm Yorke's follow-up header over the bar.

Minutes later, Yorke then came within a whisker of getting a telling touch on another raking Gresko cross before Cutler performed more heroics in tipping aside Jonathan Stead's header.

Stockport had their moments, too, but they found Enckelman in fine form as the flying Finn made two top drawer saves to deny both Warren Feeney and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson shortly before the break.

Yorke went close again at the start of the second half before Neill finally broke the deadlock for Rovers in the 53rd minute, curling a brilliant shot past Cutler from 25 yards.

In the closing stages, Stead had another effort blocked from Yorke's clever prompting but with six minutes left, Cutler was beaten again when the striker squared for Paul Gallagher to score at the far post, taking his tally to four goals in four games.