WHAT a difference a year makes!

At this stage last season Rovers were rock bottom of the league without a single win to their name, with just one point and above Coventry City due to the fact that they had not conceded as many goals.

Now, 12 months later, Rovers sit proudly on top of the Premiership having scored the most goals with a strike force feared throughout the land - and the feeling within in the club is: You ain't seen nothing yet!

Rovers are picking up the plaudits wherever they play and they are proving to be a very hard team to break down - away from home and not just at Fortress Ewood (last season excluded when they lost seven times at home).

So what has been the difference?

The obvious one has to be the arrival of Roy Hodgson and the influx of foreign stars who have given the club a new dimension.

But the re-emergence of Chris Sutton as a class striker after two seasons in the doldrums as been a breath of fresh air for everyone connected with the club.

With six goals in the opening five games - including the Premiership's second fastest ever hat-trick against Aston Villa - it appears that Sutton has finally come out of the shadows of Shearer and shaken off a string of injuries that have plagued him over the last two campaigns.

His partnership with pocket dynamo Kevin Gallacher has had an explosive start with both players scoring in three of the opening games.

Sutton has had such an early impact on the league that Glen Hoddle put him on standby for England's vital World Cup qualifier against Moldova next week. And he said he would not hesitate in drafting him in if one of his strikers was injured.

New signing Martin Dahlin has also felt the force of the potent front line as he has had to watch from the bench for much of his early Ewood career.

Only when Jason Wilcox was injured and Gallacher was switched out to the wing did Dahlin get a chance to have a full run-out.

But it has not just been the imports and Sutton who have rekindle memories of Rovers glorious championship winning season three years ago. A new spirit seems to be spreading throughout the side - with no better example of a return to form than Stuart Ripley.

Last season's forgotten man has caused so much havoc with his direct wing play that he has gone one better than Sutton and earned an England recall after four years in the wilderness.

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