ASSISTANT Academy director Rob Kelly breathed a sigh of relief after Rovers successfully negotiated a potential banana skin in the FA Youth Cup at the weekend.
A goal in each half from Ciaran Donnelly and Andy Bell saw Rovers beat Swindon 2-1 at Ewood in the fourth round on Saturday.
And, though it wasn't a vintage performance, Kelly was just pleased to see his side safely through to round five.
"Strangely enough, the game worked out exactly as I imagined it would," said Kelly.
"It was all set up for an upset because we were faced with an unusual kick-off time, the pitch was tricky and there was no real tempo to the game so you could smell a giant-killing in the air.
"So, although we didn't play particularly well, I was just pleased we managed to come through it unscathed because we've been caught cold in games like that before.
"As we've learnt from experience, you can't afford to underestimate anyone at this level and they'd already won four games to get this far.
"So the result was more important than the performance on the day."
Now Rovers face a daunting trip to Highbury to take on last season's winners, Arsenal, in round five.
But, though it's arguably the toughest possible draw, Kelly insists it should be a fantastic experience whatever the eventual outcome.
"Anyone with aspirations of appearing in our first team needs to be able to perform at places like Highbury," said Kelly.
"So this should be a valuable experience for all our players because it's an opportunity to test themselves against the best."
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