FROM feast to famine in the space of a week - it's been an eventful few days in the history of Blackburn Rovers.

Last Monday, Graeme Souness's promotion heroes buried Austrian part timers Abtenau under an avalanche of goals as they romped to an impressive 12-0 win.

Last night, however, virtually the same side suddenly looked as though they'd forgotten where the net was as Rovers struggled to a 0-0 draw against what was effectively a German fourth division side.

Football can certainly be a strange old game but in a perverse kind of way Ewood chief Souness will have taken more positives out of this 90 minutes than the rest of the tour put together.

After 10 days of intensive training, Rovers were in need of a meatier challenge than that provided by the likes of Abtenau and German fifth division outfit Crailsheim.

And they got that in abundance here against a Plauen side clearly sensing the opportunity to pull off an upset in front of a partisan crowd of 2,175 -- by fair means or foul.

Aided and abetted by a weak referee in Peter Weise, they got away with murder at times as Matt Jansen in particular was singled out for some rough stuff.

It appeared to be a deliberate attempt by the Germans to rattle Rovers and they ultimately succeeded as Keith Gillespie finally snapped, reacting angrily to yet another late challenge which resulted -- rather harshly in my book -- in his sending off. That decision, understandably, left Souness seething given what had gone before.

But, if fitness rather than results is ultimately the goal, then it turned out to be a highly productive exercise as Rovers were forced to battle on manfully with ten men for the last half hour.

"It's not about results, it's all about fitness, and this turned out to be a very good workout for us given the heat and the fact we have to play 30 minutes with a man short," said Souness.

"I said before kick off that this would be our hardest game of the three and that's exactly how it panned out.

"We had a good 20 minutes at the start of the game and I think we coped quite well in the first half.

"But then after the hour mark we began to tire which is understandable after playing three games back to back.

"So we are still looking at least a couple of yards short but that's only to be expected at this point in our preparations."

With skipper Garry Flitcroft and new boy Corrado Grabbi both unavailable due to fatherly duties, Souness was again forced to shuffle his pack.

But aside from the fitness aspects, there were several performances from which he could take heart with the big kick off just three weeks away.

Jansen and Marcus Bent again looked sprightly up front, despite failing to force keeper Jens Golle into a meaningful save.

The return of John Curtis at right back was also a major bonus for the boss after a string of injury problems had kept him out of the previous two games.

And Tugay and David Dunn also showed signs of an understanding in the centre of midfield, although the Turk still looks some way short of full match fitness after missing the first week of pre-season due to the delay over his work permit. What was clearly evident, however, is the whole team are still some way short of achieving peak fitness which is what you would expect at this stage in proceedings.

Plauen -- whose season starts next week -- were at least a yard quicker in most departments, by virtue of the fact that their pre-season programme is at a more advanced stage than Rovers.

So hence, after enjoying the best of the opening half hour a combination of the searing heat and an energy-sapping playing surface began to take its toll on the visitors.

Rovers started brightly enough, however, as Jansen headed narrowly over inside the opening five minutes after a brilliant cross from Bent on the right.

Then Damien Duff got free on the left and centred for Jansen to climb above the home defence again only for keeper Golle to palm his effort to safety.

Bent also fired into the side netting -- after shaking off his marker with a neat turn inside the box.

But, as the game wore on, the contest became increasingly niggly as Jansen and Craig Short both found their way into the referee's notebook.

After the break, Plauen grew in stature as an attacking force and Gregor Berger fired an early warning with a shot which flashed just wide following a mazy run.

But the biggest talking point of the night came in the 57 minute when Gillespie got involved in a spat with Rico Reinhold and was offered first use of the bath water as a result.

After that, little was seen of Rovers as an attacking force although substitute Nathan Blake almost snatched a winner when he came within a whisker of connecting with another delicious Duff cross. As Plauen went for the jugular in the closing stages, substitute Rene Krasselt screwed a close range effort just wide of the far post.

But Rovers dug deep to stretch their unbeaten run to three games ahead of the stiffer tests which await them next week.

ROVERS: Friedel, Curtis, Berg, Short, Bjornebye, Gillespie, Tugay, Dunn, Duff, Jansen, Bent. Subs: Hughes (for Bent 61), Blake (for Jansen 61), Taylor (for Short 61), Hignett (for Curtis 77).