BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness leapt to the defence of Andy Cole after the Rovers striker saw his nightmare continue in this derby stalemate.

The former Manchester United star has now gone 13 games and almost four months without a goal in the Premiership following another fruitless afternoon up front.

But Souness is sticking by his record signing and he believes it's only a matter of time before he rediscovers the goalscoring form which made him an instant hero with the fans a year ago.

It's amazing how fortunes can change so quickly in football.

This time last year, Cole was banging goals in for fun as 13 in his first 20 appearances helped Rovers stave off the threat of relegation.

But now the club are gunning for Europe and the goals have suddenly dried up, albeit temporarily, for the 31-year-old striker.

Apart from a brace in the FA Cup against Sunderland and a solitary strike against Manchester United in the Worthington Cup semi-final, Cole has to go back to December 28 and a 2-2 draw with West Ham for his last goal in the Premiership.

For a man of his goalscoring pedigree, that's more of a famine than a barren spell.

And it's a fair bet he struggled to get to sleep last night as images of the opportunities he passed up here kept replaying in his mind.

One incident in particular from the first half may haunt him for a while.

An electric run and cross from Damien Duff left Cole with a free header eight yards out but his subsequent effort went closer to hitting the corner flag than the back of Jussi Jaaskelainen's net.

It was the kind of miss which will appear on Nick Hancock's next Christmas video and it summed up the kind of luck the striker is currently experiencing in front of goal.

In fairness to Cole, though, it was only his finishing which let him down on the day.

Some of his work in and around the box was excellent at times as he helped to create a number of inviting opportunities for others in a game where Rovers posed all the questions going forward.

But that will be of little consolation to the player himself who sets his own exacting standards.

Strikers are ultimately judged in black and white terms and the second most prolific goalscorer in Premiership history takes great pride in his goals-per-game ratio.

So no-one will be more disappointed than Cole by his current return of five goals from 31 appearances in the league and he's urgently in need of a break from somewhere to get him firing again.

"Andy will be frustrated at not putting away his chances but all strikers go through a spell like that," said Souness.

"He doesn't have a problem with confidence, though, because he's a confident boy.

"He had two very good chances in the first half. The boys said the ball was moving in the air for the first one and maybe it wasn't as easy as it looked from where we all were."

Instead, Rovers only turned on the style in patches in front of an expectant Bank Holiday crowd as they showed the strain of two games in three days.

Bolton played with the air of a team who had already secured their Premiership status and they should have been punished in a one-sided first half as a Duff-inspired Rovers piled on the pressure.

But after failing to make the most of some inviting openings, the home side then ran out of steam in the last half hour and the game petered out into a disappointing goalless draw.

The one plus point for Souness, though, was yet another clean sheet.

Much has been said and written about Rovers attacking qualities this season but it may have escaped some critics' attention that Brad Friedel has now kept 14 clean sheets in 35 league games -- a staggering statistic which has formed the backbone of the club's charge for the top-six.

Once again, Henning Berg and Craig Short were rock solid at the back as Wanderers barely mustered a serious attempt at Friedel's goal.

Rovers, in contrast, could have had the game won inside the opening 20 minutes as Wanderers were repeatedly carved open by some slick approach work but, sadly, the quality of their finishing failed to match the clever build-up play.

Duff was the source for most of Rovers' best work and he forced an early save out of Jussi Jaaskelainen after seizing onto a poor clearance from Bruno N'Gotty.

Then the inspirational Irishman turned provider with a mesmerising run and cross but Cole headed wide when it looked easier to score.

Two minutes later, the same combination ripped Wanderers' shaky defence to shreds again.

Duff's penetrative run and pass released Cole but, instead of taking the ball around Jaaskelainen, the former England man opted to shoot and his effort struck the keeper's chest.

By now Wanderers were creaking but Rovers couldn't turn their possession into goals.

Flitcroft and Sukur went close in the last half hour then in injury time the ball broke kindly for Duff in the area but, just as he was about to pull the trigger, he lost his footing.

It was that kind of day.

ROVERS 0

BOLTON WANDERERS 0