AS Blackburn Rovers concluded their end-of-season lap of honour, one man lingered on the hallowed turf of Ewood Park for slightly longer than the rest.

With his arms held aloft above his head, he vigorously clapped the hordes of fans away to his right, who were stood chanting his name as one on the Blackburn End.

He paused for a second to acknowledge their unstinting support before disappearing down the tunnel - and possibly into the sunset.

Only time will tell, of course, whether that's the last we'll see of Andy Cole in a Blackburn shirt.

But the vast majority of the 15,000 or so supporters who applauded the former England striker off the pitch on Saturday will be hoping he was saying 'a bientt' rather than 'Au revoir'.

For all Cole's spats with the manager and smouldering goal celebrations, he remains a popular figure amongst the masses.

And it can only be hoped that he and Graeme Souness find a way of working through their troubles this summer if a messy divorce is to be avoided.

Cracks have been forming in their relationship for some time and the pair barely speak on a daily basis.

But beneath all the posturing, perhaps the two have more in common than either would dare to admit.

Both are immensely proud individuals who demand respect off those around them and the fact they appear to have little for each other is probably at the heart of their uneasy stand-off.

In the end, though, it will be Souness who'll ultimately decide whether the damage is irreparable or not.

The tough-talking Scot has already promised heads will roll this summer and the victims of that cull are likely to be informed of their fate later this week.

However, judging by their reaction on Saturday, the fans are hoping Cole will be spared a trip to the gallows, for few players have done more to save the club's neck in the last dozen or so games than the former Manchester United star.

The arrival of Jonathan Stead from Huddersfield in January seemed to stoke Cole's fire at a time when some supporters were beginning to question his commitment to the cause.

Suddenly, the 32-year-old found himself out of the team at the expense of a player who had been plucked from the relative obscurity of the Third Division and his pride was hurt.

At that point, Cole could have sulked and taken his ball home but instead he chose to knuckle down and prove a point to the manager.

The turning point was the 2-0 win at Aston Villa in mid-March, where Stead and Cole first showed signs of striking up a promising partnership.

In the nine games since then, their alliance has shown further signs of blossoming into something special and it's for that reason the fans want to see Cole stay on for the remaining year of his contract.

"Andy has had his problems at the club this year, so it will be up to him and the club whether he stays or not," mused Rovers' skipper, Garry Flitcroft.

"But the one thing about Coley is he's a goal-scorer and if you give him chances, he will score goals for you.

"He and Jon Stead have done really well together since they started playing as a partnership.

"They have shown a lot of promise as a partnership and I think they're good for each other.

"Andy's experience can only help Jon, while Jon's youthfulness and desire seems to be good for Andy."

If Cole was to move on in the summer then Souness would be hard pressed to find a striker with a comparable goals record on a limited transfer budget - a fact borne out by his performance on Saturday.

The former England man found the net on the season's final day for the third successive year when he swept a right-footed shot past Maik Taylor in the 24th minute for his 11th goal of a frustrating season.

For the next 58 minutes that looked like being enough to secure a fifth win in six outings for a Rovers side desperate to finish the season with a flourish.

But then Stern John pounced to net a controversial equaliser for Birmingham in the 83rd minute that rounded off an expensive few days for Souness and Rovers.

Last Thursday, the Blackburn boss got hit with a £10,000 fine following a comment he made to the referee Graham Poll.

On Saturday afternoon, Souness said the actions of another referee, Dermot Gallagher, cost him a further £1 million in potential transfer cash after he blamed the Oxon official for failing to spot what he considered to be a blatant push by John on Lucas Neill as he rose to nod home Damien Johnson's cross.

That's the difference in revenue between finishing 13th and 15th in the Premiership and Souness was so incensed he could barely contain his anger as he harangued the assistant referee.

Television evidence later proved inconclusive but Souness remained convinced he had a case and the reason he got so irate was the loss of that £1 million probably cost him a summer signing.

In the end, though, a point was probably about right, even though Rovers had enough good chances to have killed the game off long before John's late equaliser.

Peter Enckelman - who was a model of concentration given he had 4,000 Brummies taking the Michael out of him for the entire 90 minutes - made an exceptional save from Mikael Forsell before Cole broke the deadlock in the 24th minute.

Tugay, an impressive force in midfield, fed a clever ball through to Cole on the edge of the box and the striker sped past Matthew Upson on his way into the area.

He still had a lot to do but after scuffing his first effort, he then steered a low drive into the bottom right corner at the second attempt.

Clinton Morrison should have equalised when he connected with a Stan Lazaridis cross but his header cannoned back off the crossbar.

Then Enckelman came to the rescue again when he thwarted the industrious Johnson with an out-stretched boot.

Rovers emerged for the second half with more purpose and they should have killed the game off in a 10-minute period immediately after half time.

Maik Taylor made excellent saves from Cole, Tugay and Michael Gray before a brilliant interchange between Cole and Stead carved the Blues' defence open again only for Taylor to save the day once more.

In a rare foray at the opposite end, Upson headed wide from a Robbie Savage corner.

But just as Rovers prepared to celebrate a third straight home win, up popped John to nod home Johnson's pin-point centre and send Souness's blood pressure through the roof.

It was a frustrating way to end the season but at least Rovers will be back for more next season.

The question the fans now want answering is 'Will Cole?'

ROVERS 1

Cole 25

BIRMINGHAM 1

John 83

At Ewood Park Att: 26,070