ROVERS boss Graeme Souness must be considering sending his squad to finishing school after his Premiership new-boys made heavy weather of extinguishing Oldham's Worthington Cup dreams.

Just four days after watching his side waste a host of chances at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, Souness was forced to endure another uncomfortable evening on the bench after this second round clash followed a similar pattern of frustration.

And if Rovers can't solve their striking problems soon, then the tough-talking Scot could be in for some sleepless nights between now and May as he tries to find the formula necessary to guarantee Premiership survival.

Once again, some of Rovers' approach play going forward was irresistible at times as Andy Ritchie's Latics were cut to shreds by the vision and inventiveness of Turkish midfield ace Tugay.

But it's at the business where the men from Ewood are currently experiencing difficulties.

Oldham -- currently fighting to get out of the Second Division -- were there for the taking once Rovers took the wind out of their sails in the opening half hour.

But, despite creating a hatful of chances, their place in round three was only finally secured once Darren Dunning popped up to register his first senior goal with 13 minutes left.

Before then, Rovers' finishing in front of goal had done nothing for Souey's blood-pressure on a night of high drama.

And his striking problems then piled up when Marcus Bent was harshly sent off in the closing stages after a touch-line fracas with Oldham's Darren Sheridan.

"The overriding thing I'll go to bed thinking about tonight is the chances we've missed again -- just like we did last Saturday and at Derby on the opening day," said Souness.

"In the games we've played so far we must have created 25 chances but we've only taken just a fraction of them.

"And that's something we have to start addressing quickly because we can't keep missing them like we are at the moment.

"At 1-0 they can always come back at you and then it suddenly becomes a different game.

"So we've got to start putting teams to the sword whenever we are on top."

Missing right-backs John Curtis and Lucas Neill, Souness was forced to switch from his preferred 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2 line-up, handing home debuts to summer signings Tugay and Gordon Greer.

And the former Rangers man in particular caught the eye with an accomplished performance in midfield.

Cool and composed on the ball, the Turk pinged passes around Ewood's rain-sodden turf with the nonchalance you would expect from an established international.

He orchestrated everything from the centre of the park and, once he builds up his match fitness, he's clearly going to have a major influence on Rovers' fortunes over the next nine months.

But even his performance was eclipsed here by Martin Taylor who seems to be growing in stature with every game.

The 21-year-old Geordie followed up his display against Sunderland with another awesome show on the left-hand side of Rovers' defensive triumvirate.

And in this kind of form, Craig Short may struggle to get his shirt back for the long trek to Ipswich on Sunday.

Both sides cancelled each other out in a lacklustre start but Rovers then roared into a 14th minute lead courtesy of a sweeping four man move.

Henning Berg intercepted a free kick on the left before feeding Tugay who in turn found Craig Hignett.

The former Barnsley man then threaded a clever ball through to Ciccio Grabbi whose neat first time lay-off released Matt Jansen and the Ewood hot-shot cut inside Stuart Balmer before expertly dispatching his first goal of the new campaign beyond Gary Kelly.

However, any thoughts of a Rovers goal-avalanche were quickly dispelled as Jansen blocked a Lee Duxbury effort.

And the lively Mark Allott was only denied an equaliser by an offside flag after Brad Friedel had made a brilliant save to deny John Eyre.

That appeared to act as a wake-up call and it was all Rovers after that but a mixture of brilliant goalkeeping and woeful finishing left Souness increasingly agitated.

Grabbi, Tugay and Damien Johnson all spurned excellent opportunities before Jansen had the ball in the net again only to fall foul of the Latics' offside trap.

After Friedel then saved a header from Eyre in the opening 30 seconds after the break, it was all one-way traffic in the second half.

I counted six occasions when Jansen alone could have added to his tally and Kelly made another blinding stop from a fierce Grabbi free kick.

But the killer second didn't arrive until the 77th minute when Kelly saved from Johnson following a quickly-taken free kick and Dunning was on hand to steer home the rebound from six yards.

Game over. Or so we thought!

With eight minutes left, Oldham's frustration boiled over as Taylor, Tugay and Alan Mahon were all the victims of late challenges in the space of 30 manic seconds, sparking a free-for-all infront of the dug-outs.

Latics midfielder Darren Sheridan appeared to throw a couple of handy left-hooks in the ensuing melee.

And when referee Tony Bates finally restored order, Sheridan and Marcus Bent -- who originally acted as peacemaker -- were both red-carded, together with Oldham sub Mark Allott.

That marred an otherwise entertaining contest but Souness remained philosophical at the end.

"Obviously, the sending off takes the shine off it but, overall, I've got to be happy," said the Rovers boss.

"We're in the next round of the cup, we played a few people who haven't had games for a while and this was always going to be a difficult test.

"These cup ties are always interesting if you don't approach them correctly and I felt in the first half we didn't do that.

"In the second half, though, we improved as a team even if we were guilty of wasting all those chances."

RESULT: ROVERS...2 OLDHAM...0

Jansen 14, Dunning 77