A fan's-eye view from Ewood Park, with Phil Lloyd

IT was planned with military precision and executed with perfect timing. Every part of the operation went smoothly and according to plan. It was, in short, a great success.

Fellow sufferers at Ewood on Saturday will recognise that I am not referring to our stumbling, shambling victory over West Brom. Whilst I realise that back-to-back wins should be something to applaud this season, I think it was rather more impressive that younger daughter and I left the centre of Paris on Saturday morning and arrived inside Ewood Park at the very moment the referee blew his whistle to commence the minute's silence in honour of Stanley Matthews. My wife, left to unpack the cases at home, was as you can imagine especially impressed by this achievement.

Mention of Sir Stan in the same column as Saturday's match (memorably described by a caller to a radio phone-in that evening as 'a game of pub football') does the great man a major disservice. Older fans were forgiven for dreaming of Stan's mazy dribbling skills, running rings round bewildered opponents and delivering crosses with pinpoint accuracy. Younger fans may have recalled more recent heroes, like the two ex-Rovers hitting the net that selfsame afternoon for Newcastle, goal-hungry and sharp, always liable to have you on the edge of your seat. Those on the edge of their seats on Saturday were those contemplating an early exit from the ground. Never in the field of football conflict has so little been achieved by so many, paid so much. Except perhaps at Sheffield Wednesday. Now I've personally got no problem with winning games where Rovers haven't played well. All successful teams do it and, goodness knows, we've been on the wrong end of such a result so many times, outplaying the opposition only to fall for the sucker punch. So two cheers to Tony's men for at least getting that part right. Maybe tonight against Norwich, we'll get the performance we've all been craving, with a result to match.

That's the beauty of football, that sense of unswerving optimism, despite having travelled several hundred miles to watch a drab, shapeless game. It's all about being there.

Whether the chap mentioned in Saturday's programme, who had travelled back from Mexico to watch the two pub teams and the worst referee we've seen this season, was quite so philosophical, I'll leave you to judge!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.