ABERDEEN 1 ROVERS 2 MARLON Broomes and Gary Croft made Roy Hodgson a very happy man in Aberdeen last night.
Their performances brought a smile to the face of the Blackburn Rovers boss who saw what was, in many respects, a shadow squad claim an excellent victory over a rebuilt Aberdeen side hoping to make an impact on the Scottish Premier League.
The list of Rovers absentees reached double figures, for varying reasons, but Rovers still had enough about them to beat the Scots, who were playing their final pre-season game before starting in earnest on Saturday.
And Hodgson was clearly delighted about two of his younger players, with Croft staking a very real claim to the place that will be vacated by Graeme Le Saux against Derby County on Saturday week, August 9.
Facing a tricky winger, who received plenty of possession, in Joe Miller, Croft could hardly have done more to enhance his claims for that first team spot.
And Broomes confirmed the excellent progress he is making, even though there are still several seniors ahead of him in the current pecking order.
"Marlon Broomes was very good and Gary Croft was excellent," said Hodgson afterwards.
"If either of them had been Scottish I'm sure they would have been given the man of the match award.
"It's very interesting to see a young lad like Broomes do so well. But I am hoping he will find it hard to break through because that will mean we have our senior players available.
"He has got a good future if he continues at that level but there's a difference between a pre-season friendly at Aberdeen and playing every week in the Premiership."
Hodgson, however, must have been greatly encouraged by the performance of his team, the majority of whom are unlikely to figure - injuries permitting - in the opening League game.
And Croft's display was just what was needed coming just the day after Rovers announced they had agreed to Graeme Le Saux's transfer request. They now have two genuine contenders for the left back spot in Croft and Jeff Kenna, who has done a job there on previous occasions.
It will certainly be of comfort to the manager to have seen what could only be described as a makeshift side get the better of a team supposedly ready for serious action.
Injuries have affected Hodgson's pre-season choices but he also admitted that there had been some serious tactical thinking behind his selections.
He was clearly protecting people for the final friendly against Sheffield United on Sunday when we might see more of the kind of line-up he envisages to face Derby.
It was also a boost for the strength in depth of the squad that they could take on decent opposition and still win.
The first two goals were a comedy of errors but the clincher, from Broomes, was a classic and will do Rovers' confidence no harm at all.
With Tim Sherwood again acting as an emergency central defender alongside Broomes, Rovers also had George Donis operating on the left in the first half and a strike force of Graham Fenton and Per Pedersen.
They also gave trialist keeper Lance Key just over half an hour to show what he could do, as they ponder whether to take him on a short-term contract to be on the substitutes' bench while Tim Flowers recovers from groin surgery.
Rovers were excellent in the first half, apart from the familiar failing of a lack of real punch.
They controlled the game after going ahead in the 11th minute through what has to go down as an own goal against Jamie Buchan.
Billy McKinlay played a decisive part in the move with a defence-splitting pass and when the eventual cross was deflected to Graham Fenton, he had to shimmy to beat a defender before getting in the softest of shots.
It went past the keeper but seemed certain to be cleared by Buchan, who was a yard from the line.
Incredibly, the full back sliced the ball high into the roof of his own net.
Defences were generally on top but McKinlay was close with a well-struck shot and ex-Rover Mike Newell saw a good effort deflected over. Rovers deserved their interval lead but changed things round by putting on Patrick Valery for Kenna and Anders Andersson for Fenton, with Donis taking up a more forward role. Aberdeen were livlier for the first half hour of the second half and equalised in the 56th minute courtesy of a blunder from Sherwood.
He stumbled over a straightforward ball from Brian O'Neil to let in Dean Windass who took a couple of strides forward to score comfortably with a good low finish.
"It would have been sad if we had not won the game because of that goal. Tim Sherwood played well, despite carrying a groin strain, but it was an horrendous goal to concede," said Hodgson.
But Rovers still had plenty to offer and dominated the final quarter of an hour, claiming victory in the 78th minute when Stuart Ripley's corner was met by a rocket of a header from Broomes.
McKinlay made a good contribution, so too did Andersson when he again showed his versatility by operating on the left.
But the real success stories of the night were Croft and Broomes.
The young ones did themselves proud. HOW THEY LINED UP
ABERDEEN: Stillie, Anderson, O'Neil, Kombouare, Buchan, Miller (sub Derek Young 70 mins), Bernard, Jess (Darren Young 64 mins), Rowson, Newell (Shearer 62 mins), Windass (Dodds 62 mins).
ROVERS: Filan (Key 57 mins), Kenna (Valery HT), Sherwood, Broomes, Croft, Ripley, Bohinen, McKinlay, Donis, Pedersen, Fenton (Andersson HT).
REF: A Freeland (Aberdeen).
ATT: 9,600.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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