Westwood 2

Blackburn Rovers 1 Taylor 44 No kidding around ALAN Hansen's theory that you cannot win anything with kids has already been destroyed by Alex Ferguson.

Now his former Liverpool team-mate Graeme Souness plans to put it to the test again with his crop of young Rovers in the Nationwide First Division.

So far, Matt Jansen and David Dunn have been the leading lights in Rovers' opening two victories over Crystal Palace and Norwich.

Last night, it was Martin Taylor who was cast in the role of unsung hero, climbing off the bench to save his team-mates' bacon with a timely first half equaliser.

Clearly, Souness is satisfied at the way his kids are responding to the gauntlet he has thrown down before them.

But the fiery Scot won't be kidded by this result as he mulls over the wider picture -- Rovers need to perform much better than this if they want to be at the business end in May.

"As an ex-colleague of mine once said 'You don't win anything with young players.'

"But we'll see about that come the end of the season," said Souness.

"People talk about Blackburn Rovers spending lots of money but we started the second half with six players 22 or under.

"And most of those boys have come through the system so that was pleasing for us.

"This is a game we probably would have got nothing from 12 months ago.

"But we can do a lot better than we showed tonight.

"And I'll expect a lot more."

Souness could not have asked much more of Taylor, however. When Craig Short was poleaxed by a 50-50 collision with Andy Booth in the 40th minute, the Blackburn boss decided to send on the giant centre-back instead of the more experienced Christian Dailly.

And the man known simply to his team-mates as 'Tiny' responded to the challenge, popping up to bag the equaliser with his first ever goal in senior football two minutes later.

Some pundits later tried to argue the effort should go down as an own goal after Wednesday defender Ashley Westwood got the final touch.

But Taylor was having none of it!

"I'll definitely be claiming that," said Taylor. "I don't remember much about it other than the ball bounced up, I managed to get my head to it, and it took a bit of a deflection.

"But it was a great feeling to score -- especially after just coming on." In truth, this was more like two points lost rather than a point gained against a Wednesday side missing key protagonists in the likes of Kevin Pressman, Gilles De Bilde and Wim Jonk.

By the end of the game, however, Rovers were thankful to come away with anything after struggling to contain the aerial threat of Booth and his gangly strike-partner Gerald Sibon.

There was nothing subtle about Wednesday's game-plan.

Owls boss Paul Jewell had sent his side out with clear instructions to bombard the box with as many crosses as possible and the tactic caused Rovers no end of problems.

Last season they would have caved in but, to his credit, Souness has injected a greater fighting spirit into this squad and, in the city famous for its steel, Rovers showed the necessary mettle to grind out a result.

That had looked unlikely, however, when Wednesday raced into a 1-0 lead inside the opening two minutes.

Matt Hamshaw whipped over a left-wing corner which Dunn and Booth, who had evaded his marker Marlon Broomes, both contested at the near post. The ball flicked off the Rovers man to Westwood who ghosted in behind Nathan Blake to nod it into the empty net.

The visitors were rocked and it took 20 minutes before rookie keeper Chris Stringer was seriously tested. He was equal to it, though, turning aside Dunn's daisycutter from the edge of the box before showing lightning reactions to scoop out a Blake effort which took a deflection off Westwood.

Richard Cresswell then missed a golden chance to put Wednesday 2-0 up but he fired wastefully over the bar after the linesman's flag had stayed down following a clever knock-down from Booth.

That was to prove a costly miss as Rovers equalised nine minutes later.

Damien Duff and Dunn worked a short corner routine on the right and, when the ball was finally delivered, it bounced up off the chest of Westwood to Taylor who headed past Stringer via the aid of another touch from the Wednesday defender. After the break, Rovers keeper Alan Kelly came into his own as Wednesday shaded the second half, denying Sibon (twice) and Westwood with some breathtaking stops.

But, in a frantic finale, both sides had chances to pinch the points.

First, Booth somehow headed wide from a Hamshaw centre.

Then, Rovers sub Kaba Diawara could have become an instant hero but failed to get any purchase on a Matt Jansen cross in the dying seconds. In the end, both managers had to settle for a point.

On the face of it that may seem disappointing.

But who was it who once said the promotion formula is to win your home games and draw away? Not a certain Mr Hansen, surely?