BLACKBURN Rovers' pre-season preparations were given a major shot in the arm last night after they beat Lazio 3-2 in a friendly -- and then saw Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier effectively pull out of the race to sign star winger Damien Duff.

A stunning three-goal blitz inside the opening 19 minutes against the Italian giants set Rovers on their way to a morale-boosting victory in their final friendly work-out before the new Premiership season gets under way next weekend.

But it was the news emanating from Anfield which may yet be of greater significance in regard to Graeme Souness's overall preparations for the next 10 months.

Throughout the summer, Duff's whole future at Ewood has been the subject of intense speculation with Liverpool said to be at the front of the queue in the race for the Republic of Ireland international's signature.

However, Houllier last night indicated he is now content with the squad he has got and has no plans to make any further signings before the big kick-off next weekend.

And that means unless Manchester United come in with a late bid for the 23-year-old, then Duff seems almost certain to start the new season at Ewood.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of tomorrow's Community Shield, Houllier said: "There will be no players coming in for the tine being. We are happy with our squad.""

Meanwhile, Souness was delighted with last night's work-out against a star-studded Lazio side.

Rovers took their pre-season goals tally to an impressive 27 in five games courtesy of first half efforts from Dwight Yorke, Henning Berg and a Paolo Negro own goal.

And, despite a strong second half fight-back from the former Serie A champions, Souness's men held on to chalk up a win which will give them vital confidence going into the new campaign.

"In the first half we played very well and looked threatening every time we went forward," said Souness.

"But, as we thought, we then ran out of steam and there were two reasons for that -- the first is we are training very hard still and the second was we were playing against a top team.

"So it was a great night for us because they made us work very, very hard which is the most important thing at this time of the year.

"We spent the whole of the second half chasing the ball and it was a really good exercise for us overall. I think people saw that when we are fit and up for it we look threatening, as we did throughout the first half.

"Then, in the second half, we didn't really see too much of the ball but in the bigger picture that will have done us no harm at all because of the amount of work we had to put in to stop them from playing."

Souness was also pleased to see Yorke mark his home debut with another well-taken goal -- his fourth in as many games since signing from Manchester United.

But then the Rovers boss was always confident his new £2 million hit-man would settle in quickly. "I'm a great believer in the fact that if you are a top player then you don't need months or 10 games to settle in at a new club," added Souness. If you're a top player then you're a top player."

With Rovers set to compete in the UEFA Cup this season, last night's game also acted as a dress rehearsal for the potential challenges which may lie ahead.

"I just hope we don't play teams like that in the UEFA Cup -- well at least until the latter stages anyway," joked Souness.

"But on a serious note, it's a different style of football and you could see that they were a top team in the way they moved the ball about.