Carling Cup: Blackburn Rovers 3 Liverpool 4

THE Liverpool fans sang 'que sera sera' but if you're looking for a French phrase to provide a soundtrack to this blockbuster drama, try 'deja-vu'.

Last night's Carling Cup tie produced some spooky shadows of the horror show that was staged when these sides went to battle in the Premiership last month, and unfortunately for Lucas Neill, most were cast in his direction.

The Australian defender must have thought he was suffering nightmare flashbacks as, for the second time this season, he was shown a red card at a time when Blackburn held a 1-0 lead over Liverpool.

And just as his departure gave the Merseysiders an automatic upper hand in September's infamous encounter, which they eventually won 3-1, they discarded Rovers' remaining 10 players with similar ruthlessness here too.

It was an unbelievable series of events, as we all know lightning doesn't often strike twice - then again neither does Emile Heskey, but in keeping with Rovers' rotten run that's exactly what he did to ensure there would be no third successive semi-final appearance for Graeme Souness' men.

Unlike the hysteria that was sparked by his previous red card, Neill is probably more deserving of sympathy than savagery on this occasion.

The tackle that ended his involvement after 40 minutes was no over-the-top leg-breaking lunge of the type that halted Jamie Carragher's season at Ewood in September.

This time it was a faint clip of Florent Simana-Pongolle's heel as he bore down on Brad Friedel that did the damage and while the challenge was tame, the punishment dished out by Mike Riley was just as swift and severe - a straight red.

How the Darwen End, hired out as a makeshift Kop for the night by a Liverpool contingent that made up almost half the crowd, loved that. You wouldn't have known it from their rather lukewarm reaction to Neill's trudge off the pitch but this was partly due to them no longer having anyone to boo.

As for the referee, he had little option given the rules regarding professional fouls and Neill was, after all, the last man.

But then so was Djimi Traore less than 10 minutes earlier when he took out Andy Cole as he was set for a clear run at Chris Kirkland. This time Riley didn't even produce a card for the Liverpool left back and as it was outside the area, a free kick was the only consolation.

Although a rejuvenated Barry Ferguson bent it on to the crossbar, it was nowhere near as good a position as the penalty Liverpool got for Neill's foul, which enabled Danny Murphy to cancel out Dwight Yorke's headed goal. Rough justice indeed.

Two early second half headers from Heskey and a Harry Kewell tap-in made it 4-1, with Heskey even squandering a hat-trick chance in the midst of all that, Friedel superbly saving both his spot kick and the rebound following Gresko's trip on Kewell.

But then came a period of the game that, along with events leading up to Neill's sending off, will give Blackburn renewed belief that the wind of change is breezing back into Ewood.

With a seventh game without a win already confirmed, Rovers began stroking it around and sweeping it about with the swagger of a side enjoying a three-goal lead rather than enduring a three-goal deficit.

Brett Emerton and Yorke knocked in a pair of perfect one-touch passes and the fantastic Ferguson, complete with peacock-feather hairstyle, strutted through the middle to make it 4-2.

And in stoppage time another of the night's revelations, Yorke, caressed Paul Gallagher's cut back with his right heel before steering in his second of the night with a low left-footed drive.

Respectability was restored, if not the results.

But while you can argue that the Reds, with El-Hadji Diouf and Heskey (who could have had two hat-tricks) in full flow, would be a fearsome prospect for any team down to 10 men, the defending remains unconvincing.

Manager Souness admitted as much after the game when he said: "Some of the defending wasn't very good. I'd love to say it was due to being down to 10 men but it wasn't, it was bad marking in the box."

But the Rovers boss was right to remain positive because there were plenty of plus points to mark down in the notebook too.

One was the recalled Yorke, whose beautifully guided 35th minute header gave David Thompson the deserved reward for some stunning right wing trickery that completely bemused Sami Hyypia.

When the ball bounced against the post, a few sighs of 'here we go again' were on the tips of the home fans' tongues but, what do you know, Blackburn finally got a bit of luck and it nestled in the net.

The feelgood factor was back and the prospect of knocking League Cup specialists Liverpool out of the competition was looking real.

But the fact that Blackburn's glorious 2002 triumph is the only time it hasn't graced the Anfield trophy cabinet in the last three years tells you something - mainly that Gerard Houllier's men take this competition very seriously.

Neill's dismissal aside, even if he hadn't touched Pongolle the young Frenchman would almost certainly have scored anyway, so as Souness intimated, it wasn't just being a man down that exposed gaps in the back line

However, it no doubt helped Diouf to find the freedom of the left hand side to notch a hat-trick of second half assists that proved Rovers' ultimate downfall

But with Carling Cup and European dreams now dead, the best Blackburn can concentrate on for the next game at Leicester is starting on Sunday in the same way they finished last night.