Coca Cola Cup 3rd round: Blackburn Rovers 0 Stockport County 1 - Peter White reports

WHAT a shambles - Blackburn Rovers should be hanging their heads in shame after crashing head first out of the Coca-Cola Cup last night.

Not just because of the result, as this sort of upset has happened against better teams than Rovers and will happen again.

The biggest indictment was that Second Division Stockport County thoroughly deserved the victory, because they were the better team by far on the night.

In fact, if Rovers had gone down by a wider margin, they could hardly have complained. Stockport were so superior for a long spell at the start of the second half, they should have killed the game off and put us all out of our misery.

As it was, Rovers enjoyed one of their better periods in the last 15 minutes but their efforts were too feeble to change the course of the game.

It was summed up by an incident three minutes from time when Jeff Kenna advanced in a last-ditch effort to salvage a replay. I'm not picking on Kenna, because he was certainly no worse than the rest, it just happened to be the full back in the firing line.

Spotting a shooting chance, he hammered the ball forward and a deep, collective sigh reverberated around Ewood, as it went for . . . a throw-in!

That said it all about a team who seem to have suffered a serious memory lapse from the encouraging days at the end of last season.

They have forgotten not only how to win, but also how to defend, how to create more than the isolated clear-cut opening and the precious art of scoring goals has long since been lost.

Those jibes about a "one-man team" are striking too many true chords at the moment.

Don't take anything away from Stockport.

All the pre-match warnings proved valid. They defended stoutly, tried to use set pieces - especially their long-throw routine - to good advantage and showed that they could pass the ball around when they needed to do that.

The only goal of the night might have been a bizarre affair, but the Second Division side's victory was no fluke.

It left Rovers and their so-frustrated fans wondering just where we go from here.

As if Premiership form wasn't bad enough, rock-bottom morale can only have suffered through this abysmal performance.

I feared the worst after Saturday's draw at Hillsborough. Because, for all the brave words spoken, that display was hardly one to set the pulses racing.

Last night it was worse. At times, Rovers defended like complete novices, which they aren't, and the only really genuine threat was provided by Garry Flitcroft from midfield. County boss David Jones, in fact, admitted that he felt the turning point was a superb first-half save made by Paul Jones from one of several Flitcroft attempts on goal.

He may well have been right, but that's not good enough for a Premiership squad packed with so many costly players.

I could easily rhyme off the absentees, Colin Hendry, Chris Coleman, Graeme Le Saux, Chris Sutton, Stuart Ripley, Graham Fenton and Paul Warhurst.

But Rovers still had internationals on the bench. No excuse.

It's puzzling, for me at least, why Billy McKinlay - a man who you would like alongside you in the trenches - can't get near such a struggling side at the moment.

And it was a strange decision to pull off skipper Tim Sherwood during the second half.

He wasn't having the best of times, but nor were many others, and the captain never gives up, even on lost causes like this one.

Rovers' wingers seem to have shot their bolt and it was impossible not to sympathise with James Beattie who is still a boy being asked to do a man's job. The game had a scrappy start in a blustery wind, with Kevin Gallacher wasting a glorious early chance when put through by Sherwood.

Disaster struck in the 23rd minute when Mike Flynn launched an almighty throw into the Rovers box, Tim Flowers decided to come and punch and confusion reigned as the ball finished in the back of the net.

It later transpired he had simply punched the ball against the back of Sherwood's head for a bizarre own goal.

Flitcroft twice went close and Henning Berg headed a Sherwood free kick onto the bar but Rovers were unconvincing.

And, while County had still not had a shot on target, they had the lead and looked reasonably comfortable.

The second half was a real shock to the system.

County threatened to bury Rovers, with Tom Bennett, Chris Marsden and Kieron Durkan (twice) threatening to clinch it, while Rovers weren't so much at sixes and sevens as 12s and 14s.

Flowers then made a superb save from Marsden before Rovers pushed Ian Pearce, another player who looked so out of sorts at the back, into attack.

They managed to exert some pressure but rarely showed the incisiveness needed to claim a winner.

County's 4,000 fans couldn't believe how easy it seemed as they roared their approval.

Rovers' supporters, to their credit, left their protests to the end. But they were right to voice them loudly.

"Going down?" asked someone in the lift after the game. Probably. Going out of the Coca-Cola Cup? Definitely.

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