Kev destroys his demons

After watching in disbelief as his side snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a quite remarkable north west derby with Bolton Wanderers, Souness was forced to admit the unthinkable.

"We simply couldn't cope with Kevin Davies."

If ever a phrase summed up the depths to which this Rovers side has slumped then that was it.

Six years ago, Davies became the laughing stock of the Premiership after his ill-fated £7.25 million move from Southampton to Blackburn ended in disaster.

Just two goals in 29 appearances for Rovers coincided with the club getting relegated from the top flight at the end of that season and an unforgiving Blackburn public have refused to let him forget it ever since.

Davies's confidence had become so fragile that it got to the point where he appeared to be scared of his own shadow.

Even a quick return to the south coast failed to wake the 26-year-old from his comatose state.

But Bolton boss Sam Allardyce, that great rescuer of lost causes, has given the barrel-chested striker some of his self-respect back.

And how he made his old club pay for those years of mockery by contributing two vital assists to help Wanderers clinch their first top-flight victory at Ewood in 42 years.

Quite simply, it was like watching car crash TV at its most gruesome.

Both managers must have felt like lying down in a dark room after 90 minutes of comic cuts defending which made the Keystone Cops look like a well-drilled Commando Unit.

To describe some of the defending as schoolboy at times would be disrespectful to schoolboys.

After an astonishing start in which both sides scored inside the opening two minutes, Rovers appeared to have the points in the bag as they capitalised on some woeful Wanderers defending to open up a 3-1 lead.

But that old French maestro Youri Djorkaeff then conjured up a wonderful goal to give Bolton a glimmer of hope just before the break.

And as the pressure built in the second half, Rovers' creaking defence totally capitulated to allow Stelios and Kevin Nolan to complete the most amazing comeback.

Souness was visibly shell-shocked afterwards. A season that had promised so much following that 5-1 opening day demolition of Wolves is now in danger of collapsing all around him as Fortress Ewood has become Sandcastle Ewood.

And unless the penny drops quickly with certain members of this squad then they might need more than a spade to dig themselves out of the quick sand

"If we continue to defend as poorly as we did today then we could be in real trouble," said Souness.

"The easiest part of football is defending but that's the part that we find the hardest.

"We were worried by the simplest form of football, which was a big centre forward and the ball being lumped into him. That caused us problems all day long."

Some of Rovers' defending was so bad at times that I bet Souness watched the action through his fingers.

With Andy Todd and Craig Short both missing to compound an already crippling injury list, Martin Taylor and Markus Babbel were paired together at the heart of a jittery back four.

And Taylor, in particular, had a personal nightmare as he failed to stifle the physical threat of Davies, who was an effective battering ram up front for Wanderers.

The towering Rovers defender, who was the subject of a recent bid by Birmingham, looked a forlorn figure as he twice made mistakes which led to goals for Nolan and Stelios.

It was sad to see the 24-year-old in such turmoil because he's a likeable individual who has the ability to become a top player but he currently looks bereft of confidence and until he learns how to punch his weight, then he will never go on to achieve his full potential.

Taylor wasn't the only one who had an afternoon to forget, either.

Babbel and Lucas Neill hardly covered themselves in glory as Rovers shipped four goals for the second successive weekend.

Further up the field, Souness decided to go with a diamond formation in midfield and, for a time, it appeared to be working until Bolton began to find space down the flanks, particularly in the second half, when Djorkaeff started to exploit the gaps in an increasingly porous Rovers back-line.

Those holes became even more apparent once Paul Gallagher was withdrawn from the firing line in the 63rd minute.

Although the 19-year-old had posed little attacking threat, his tireless running up front had pressured the Bolton defence into a number of unforced errors.

Once he was replaced by the totally ineffective Dino Baggio, Wanderers were free to deliver the ball with more accuracy from the back and it was no coincidence that they took a stranglehold on proceedings from that point on.

The opening two minutes will live long in the memory as both managers' game-plans went out of the window.

Brad Friedel found himself picking the ball out of his net inside 14 seconds as Nicky Hunt launched a long ball forward which Taylor tried to shepherd out for a goal kick but he somehow allowed Davies to hook it back from the by-line and there was Nolan to hammer home an unstoppable shot from eight yards.

However, the lead lasted barely a minute as Tugay fed Vratislav Gresko out on the left and the full back cut inside before bending an exquisite 20-yarder past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Friedel then excelled himself with a brilliant save to keep out Emerson Thome's header before Andy Cole found himself at the centre of a storm in the 22nd minute.

The Blackburn striker appeared to catch Hunt with his studs as he tried to hurdle the defender over by the by-line, an act that incensed Allardyce.

Referee Steve Dunn ended up cautioning Cole, which was a bizarre decision because he either should have shown a straight red or taken no action at all.

While Hunt was off the pitch receiving treatment, Rovers took full advantage of their extra man as Brett Emerton crossed for Cole to cushion a pass into the path of Dwight Yorke who slotted home from close range.

Worse was to come for Wanderers, as Cole then made it 3-1 when he pounced on a poor back pass from Bruno N'Gotty to lob Jaaskelainen.

Game over - or at least it should have been!

Djorkaeff handed his team a lifeline with a sublime chip in the 43rd minute after Tugay had completely misjudged another long ball but Rovers' woes deepened in the second half.

Stelios should have equalised in the 52nd minute but he made amends 21 minutes later, steering a low finish past Friedel after seizing onto Davies's header with Taylor caught napping.

If that wasn't bad enough, then the roof caved in altogether in the 78th minute when the Rovers defence failed to clear Djorkaeff's corner and Nolan showed lightning reactions to slam home the loose ball.

Now there's no ignoring it - Rovers are in a dog fight and the consequences of failure don't bear thinking about.

ROVERS 3

Gresko 2, Yorke 24, Cole 34

BOLTON 4

Nolan 1, 78, Djorkaeff 43, Stelios 73