ROVERS: The Eagle has planned it! Smith has all the answers

NOT so much a Bald Eagle as a wily old fox - that's Jim Smith who, with a major assist from Lady Luck, masterminded the downfall of his old club on a weird and not so wonderful afternoon at Pride Park for Blackburn Rovers.

Chalk this game up as the one that got away and learn from the experience. That's my advice to Rovers.

They left Derby County's new stadium not so much with a look of disappointment, more bewilderment, on their faces.

Just how Rovers failed to take anything out of a game they dominated from start to finish is a mystery.

But Derby boss Smith, one of the most genuine, likeable and honest men on the circuit had all the answers.

Before the game, he had concentrated on making sure goalkeeper Mart Poom was in the right frame of mind for a thorough examination of his ability.

And, in some ways against his better judgment, he had preferred fit-again Dean Sturridge to Deon Burton.

After the match, Smith could afford himself a large smile of satisfaction at proving a winner on both counts.

He was the first to acknowledge that Derby had the luck but, in Poom, he had the outstanding player on the field and he revealed: "I said before that I don't think there are many teams who cross the ball as many times as Blackburn.

"He had to be THE man today and he was."

With the keeper doing his stuff, Smith needed only one other to perform similar duties and he found him in Sturridge, whose clinical finishing made a big difference.

"I wasn't going to play him." admitted the ex-Rovers boss. "Because Burton has done very well.

"But Sturridge has looked so sharp in training, knocking goals in, that's why I did it."

Little wonder then that Smith was able to savour victory.

In contrast, perhaps Rovers manager Roy Hodgson will ponder his decision not to play Billy McKinlay, available again after suspension. It may be a moot point but the Scot does give the team a more solid look when he appears in the role he has virtually perfected, sitting in front of the back four.

Rovers don't concede many and, when three do go in, you look for reasons.

They certainly weren't good goals to concede, though it should also be said that, while Derby scored three, they should still so easily have been outscored.

There was a grave danger of picking up a crick in the neck as play was so often flowing towards one end.

But the ruthless touch of teams which win honours was patently missing.

Between the two penalty areas, there was only one team in it -- Rovers.

Where it matters most of all, however, Derby held the aces.

While some of Rovers' misery was self-inflicted, luck also played a major role. Derby's first goal looked suspiciously offside, the second took an important deflection off Colin Hendry.

Still, as Hodgson admitted afterwards, it all comes down in the end to goals and Derby made the most of their chances.

Their Premiership record at Pride Park is outstanding -- eight wins and three draws. But they seem to have become such a good home side by playing like an away team.

An occasional counter-attack was their only reply to waves of Rovers possession. But the team that Hodgson has reshaped don't usually prove such a soft touch. You had to feel sorry for Tim Flowers. While Poom was distinguishing himself, hardly putting a hand or a foot wrong on crosses, shots and back passes, Flowers' only involvement was to pick the ball out of his net.

The Rovers keeper had little else to do and certainly could not have done anything about Derby's finishing power.

It was strange afternoon for him.

Rovers began in great style but Poom was brilliant, saving from Kevin Gallacher when the striker should really have done better, and also from Colin Hendry.

He also held every cross and looked virtually unbeatable.

In the meantime, Derby scored with their only two serious threats of the half.

On 15 minutes, Rovers seemed to have cleared a dangerous situation but, when the ball was headed back in, Paulo Wanchope flicked it through for Sturridge -- looking a fraction offside -- to thump it past Flowers.

They continued to dictate but, four minutes before the interval, Jeff Kenna made a superb intervention to block Sturridge.

Gary Croft should have completed the clearance but was robbed by Francesco Baiano. He cut inside, found Sturridge and his shot deflected off Hendry to leave Flowers helpless at his near post.

The second half followed a similar pattern.

Poom saved well from Tim Sherwood, who was at the heart of most things, before the moment which summed up the day.

Chris Sutton, who gave the Derby defenders a tough afternoon, headed back perfectly across goal but Stephane Henchoz, with the net at his mercy, blazed over. The look on the defender's face said it all.

Yet they didn't throw in the towel and, after Poom had saved brilliantly from Sutton and Garry Flitcroft's deflected shot, Rovers got one back with just minutes remaining.

Flitcroft crossed and Sutton finally beat the keeper with the finest of glancing headers.

There was just time for a salvage act but Derby went straight down the field and Wanchope, who had spent most of the game doing the wrong things, eventually got it right.

A cross was headed back across goal for the Costa Rican to produce one of his speciality juggling acts and, despite the presence of three Rovers players, he smashed a right-foot volley into the net.

"He drives you round the bend. But I don't think anyone else could have done what he did for the goal," added Smith.

It was the most appropriate postscript to that sort of game.

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