WHO says the magic of cup football is dead? Try telling that to any Blackburn Rovers fan in a week when we booked our first major cup final spot for 42 years.

Surely only the Rovers could make a convincing attempt at trying to throw away a three-goal aggregate lead. At home. Against a lower division side. With less than 45 minutes to go.

Referee Mike Riley must currently be on a retainer from the TV companies to keep matches exciting for the neutral.

His antics at Ewood were followed on Sunday by a baffling attempt to reduce an otherwise humdrum Arsenal v Liverpool fixture to five-a-side.

Last Wednesday Garry Flitcroft's lunging tackle was crude and particularly unnecessary in the overall context of the match.

However, the ball was won cleanly and the straight red which followed was harsh.

A few minutes later I was mystified by the penalty award as the ball came over from a corner.

Slow motion TV replays later revealed an apparent handball by Bjornebye caused by a hearty shove in the back.

The fun didn't end there. Ewood legend elect Andrew Cole had obviously been told that at this club it is of course obligatory to put the fans through the full range of emotions.

Hence his two missed sitters prior to his all important third goal.

Nevertheless we got there and let's just hope we can do it for Jack on February 24.

The Worthington Cup is the only domestic trophy we've never won.

Getting back into Europe would also do wonders for the profile of the club - especially when it comes to attracting players.

Over the weekend the FA Cup was just as enthralling.

We saw controversy and excitement. Dodgy floodlights and a good old fashioned gluepot of a pitch at Peterborough.

There were a number of shock results. Then there was Cheltenham's defeat of Burnley.

Now who was it that complained about not landing a big side when the draw was made? The Robins must have been delighted not to have drawn one.

In contrast Rovers thankfully evaded a very slippy banana skin by emerging unscathed from the Lions' den.

A fourth strike in six games from "Cole the goal" saw us unusually emerging victorious from a game we could have lost.

A refreshing change from dominating a game and coming away empty handed.

As a result my itenary for the next four weekends in February now reads like Marco Polo's.

West Ham, Fulham, Middlesborough and Tottenham (at Cardiff) all away.

However, the hours on the road will, hopefully, prove worthwhile as the current depth of the squad makes the possibility of Premiership consolidation and double cup success more than just a pipedream.

It would be an amazing and fitting tribute to Jack Walker if we could do a Liverpool and return from Cardiff with two pieces of silverware this season.

What we definitely must NOT do is a Middlesbrough of two seasons ago, reach two cup finals, lose them both and be relegated!

A potential thriller awaits tomorrow night with Arsenal's visit to Ewood. I'd settle for a repeat of the 4-0 Worthington Cup scoreline!

Seriously though, as long as we don't show them too much respect I feel we're more than capable of turning them over.

We're well overdue a victory against one of the top sides following some excellent displays which haven't as yet produced the results the performances deserved. Until now, hopefully.