Dazzling Duff

After months of speculation surrounding his future, Duff will sit down next week and put his signature to a lucrative new contract which will make him one of the highest paid players in Rovers' history.

But however much the deal will ultimately cost the club it can only be seen as money well spent after the indomitable Irishman served up a tasty reminder of his precocious talents.

With memories of his mesmerising performances for the Republic of Ireland at the World Cup still fresh in the memory, Duff looked the one man capable of rising above the mediocrity on an otherwise frustrating afternoon against the gritty Black Cats.

Reid, who is under intense pressure to deliver from disenchanted Sunderland fans, arrived at Ewood with a gameplan designed to stifle Rovers' creative forces in midfield.

And with the exception of Duff, his beleaguered troops largely succeeded in carrying it off as the new season began with more of a whimper than a bang in front of an expectant home following.

Duff did his utmost to supply the inspiration required to break down a stubborn Black Cats defence during a second half onslaught.

But, despite all his clever prompting, Rovers failed to supply their new-look strikeforce of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke with the chances necessary to conjur a late winner.

"I thought we did everything but score," said Duff.

"We were quiet in the first half but in the second we created quite a few more chances, including a couple for myself, and I think we deserved to win it but unfortunately we had to settle for a point.

"Nevertheless, we can still take a lot out of our performance."

All the hype surrounding the build up to kick-off was focused around Cole's partnership with Yorke.

During Rovers' pre-season friendly campaign, the pair had terrorised a variety of different defences as the team racked up an impressive haul of 27 goals in five warm-up games.

As a result, Reid moved to combat their threat by packing his midfield and his plan paid dividends as the likes of David Dunn, Keith Gillespie and Tugay all struggled to find the space needed to impose themselves on proceedings.

It was only in the second half when Nisa Johansson and Lucas Neill pushed further forward that Rovers began to open up the visitors down the flanks.

But, despite carving out a raft of chances, their finishing ultimately let them down when it mattered in the final third, leaving Souness to reflect on what might have been.

"I can't really fault any one of my team," said the Rovers boss.

"We tried to pass it, we tried to be creative, we tried to go forward all the time because that's how we play our football.

"And, for the large part of this game, our supporters saw their team have a real go even though it finished up 0-0.

"On another day, if we play like that then we'll score goals.

"So a point is not a disaster for us, given that it's the first day of the season and we were playing against a team who are currently playing under pressure."

There was precious little to set the pulses racing in a low-key first half which rarely threatened to catch fire.

With Kevin Phillips operating as a lone striker up front, Sunderland had little to offer as an attacking force aside from a Claudio Reyna free-kick which flashed inches wide of the upright and a Jason McAteer header which drifted over the crossbar.

Rovers, meanwhile, lacked that yard of sharpness which made them such a devastating attacking unit at times last seen.

The distribution from the back lacked precision during a lethargic opening half hour and little was seen of Cole and Yorke as a result, although Cole did momentarily cause panic with a shot on the turn which flew over the top.

Rovers best chance of the half fell to Duff who beat Thomas Sorensen to Dunn's cleverly weighted through pass but, as the ball trickled goalwards, Joachim Bjorklund got back to clear the danger.

Judging by the agitated manner in which he paced the technical area, Souness no doubt pointed out a few home truths during his half-time pep-talk and Rovers re-emerged with far more purpose and vigour after the break.

Predictably, Duff was the man at the forefront of the action, orchestrating a series of dangerous raids on the left with a deadly concoction of pace and trickery.

In the 51st minute, he wriggled to the bye-line and cut a great ball back for Cole on the penalty spot only to see the striker's shot deflected wide of the post by a defender.

Then Craig Short headed over at the far post after being singled out by a radar-like cross from Dunn before Lucas Neill planted similar effort into the grateful arms of Sorensen.

By now, Rovers fans had started to resign themselves to a point but there was very nearly a nasty sting in the tail when Reyna forced Brad Friedel into a breathtaking save with a thunderous free kick.

Duff did blot his copy-book, however, when he spurned a glorious opportunity to snatch a winner.

Cole picked him out with a pinpoint cross in the 83rd minute but the whispey Irishman failed to get enough purchase on his effort with the goal at his mercy.

So, all in all, a draw was about right but, as the home fans filed past the statue of Uncle Jack -- which was adorned with flowers to mark the second anniversary of his death -- on the final whistle, they were left to reflect on a missed opportunity.

ROVERS 0

SUNDERLAND 0

Attendance...27,122

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