No case for the defence

In fact, it would be outright perjury to deny that the Blackburn backline needs rapid repair work after they slipped to a third successive Premiership home defeat, having not previously lost at Ewood at all in 2003.

And the damning evidence was clear for all to see yesterday as Luis Boa Morte and Louis Saha both scored with an ease and comfort the like of which they probably haven't enjoyed since hitting 50 goals between them in the year they and Rovers leapt hand-in-hand into the Premiership.

Although Blackburn have clearly enjoyed a more luxurious lifestyle in the top flight since, it was the hosts who were donning the rags yesterday as Fulham frustrated them from start to finish.

And it was the nature of the goals themselves that had Souness clutching his head on the sidelines, in what seemed a desperate attempt to extract from his mind some answers to the on-going problems.

"We defended poorly again. We lost today because we gave away two very sloppy goals," said the Rovers boss.

"I'm not going to criticise people because when you win you win as a team, when you lose you lose as a team.

"But defensive errors are costing us dearly at the moment and we have to sort that out."

After hailing his defence as the rock on which the victory at Portsmouth last week was built, Souness has since seen it crumble in an avalanche of goals.

Four days later they were terrorised by the Turks and yesterday were taken apart by a team tipped at the start of the season as relegation favourites - although that's clearly not going to happen if they continue to be as clinical as this in closing out results.

Chris Coleman returned to his old club with an outfit resembling an army of ants, not just because of the all-black kit the players were wearing, but the way they rallied round, worked for each other and refused to be trampled down.

They will care not a jot that the goals were their only two efforts on target throughout the 90 minutes.

It was certainly all a far cry from last April when Rovers whipped the Londoners 4-0 at Loftus Road. However, when you look at the statistics, the players who shared the goalscoring glory that night - Duff, Dunn and Sukur - have all since departed.

Duff was the one that most of the frustrated home fans were yearning for yesterday because when a team shuts up shop like Fulham did, the Irish wingman was the usually the one masterminding the break-in.

But, apart from a couple of flurries at the end of each half, nobody in blue and white looked likely to provide that magical Duff-like surge from the midfield.

Fulham's job was made much easier by the fact that they virtually had a goal start, Boa Morte having the rest of a sunny Sunday afternoon to tap in the first as early in the fifth minute.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Rovers' defensive debacle continued when Markus Babbel, standing in at right back for the suspended Lucas Neill, limped off after 28 minutes and Souness was forced to re-shuffle the back four.

Martin Taylor switched to the right and Nils-Eric Johansson replaced him in the middle, so there wasn't even any continuity to help settle down the main man in the middle, Lorenzo Amoruso.

Given that the big Italian came under most scrutiny for the defeat in Genclerbirligi on Wednesday, the last person he would have wanted to see was pacy Frenchman Saha. Not that Amoruso had much time to focus on him in the 55th minute, as Saha was out of sight and away to slot in the clinching second goal.

But it was another Gallic charmer who won over the small Fulham following by setting up the all-important breakthrough goal.

Steed Malbranque teased Vratislav Gresko all the way to the by-line and managed to force the ball past both him and the lunging Amoruso.

Brad Friedel and Saha went for it and both missed it, leaving Boa Morte a tap-in that even someone with his wayward finishing record couldn't miss.

Yet two minutes earlier Andy Cole could have given Blackburn the early boost of a goal when he brilliantly turned his marker but blazed over from outside the box.

But Rovers' next effort on goal wasn't until the stroke of half-time when David Thompson fired wide, although a shout for handball against Zat Knight was also turned down in this brief period of pressure.

When the second period started, a re-fuelled Fulham stepped on the gas again and it was 10 minutes into this half when they all but clinched the three points.

Saha relished the counter-attacking policy his side had adopted, and even more so when he found himself in a sprint race with Amoruso from the half-way line.

To be fair to the ex-Rangers man, he caught up with his opponent, but this was only because the striker checked back to consider his finish.

Then Saha, who loves Ewood Park (he even scored for Newcastle there once!), left Amoruso for dead again before curling past Friedel from the edge of the area. A quality strike.

After that it was just a case of Rovers, with Vratislav Gresko sacrificed to boost the attacking ammunition, pressing to salvage something, which Brett Emerton almost did with a shot wide and one that Van der Sar palmed away.

But those left in the ground, including the manager, knew it wouldn't be Blackburn's day ten minutes from time when Cole did well to reach a long ball and lob the goalkeeper, but it bounced back off the bar. "That summed up our day," mused Souness.

BLACKBURN ROVERS 0

FULHAM 2

Boa Morte 5, Saha 55

Ewood Park Att:21,985