Caught col-d!

And more problems for Chris Sutton added injury to insult.

But there was one marvellous moment of inspiration to comfort Rovers fans on the long trek back from South East to North West as George Donis announced his arrival in English football.

Nicknamed "The Train" by his former Panathinaikos admirers and already known by some locally as "The Greek Greyhound", second half substitute Donis did the business with a dazzling goal.

During a half-time warm-up for the subs, Rovers fans chanted: "Georgie, Georgie give us a wave" but, with the international star speaking little English, the message did not get through.

Once on the pitch, however, there were no communication problems.

Georgie had his bearings perfectly mapped out - a couple of runs and excellent crosses, then a flashing finish for a Rovers equaliser underlined his credentials.

This is one train which clearly runs on time!

The arrival of Ewood's latest star, however, was overshadowed by an injury-time fluke winner.

No matter how irrelevant the result - and it was - it's still disappointing to suffer defeat in these matches, not least because it allows some the chance to gloat.

But, as the afternoon unfolded in the Essex sunshine, it became increasingly clear that this really was no more than an extended training exercise.

Both teams made a rash of substitutions, there was no pretence on Rovers' part of trying to pit their strongest side against the Third Division club who missed out in last season's promotion play-offs.

And manager Ray Harford revealed afterwards that the squad had gone through a full training session on the morning of the match.

They were working again yesterday at their superbly-equipped Essex base and were set to go through a similar regime today before the game at Cambridge.

"It was a normal pre-season day for us and that's the way it is as we build up to the first League game," explained Harford.

"For Colchester it was their cup final but we are just concerned about fitness and match practice.

"It's just a training game. We had lots of possession but our passing wasn't very good. But that's why you have these games, they are better than training among yourselves."

Rovers certainly dominated the match, despite Colchester's early goal.

But neither keeper had too much to do with both sets of forwards looking a little rusty.

The home team, with two matches already behind them, looked sharper and a neat, compact unit as well.

They funnelled back quickly to ensure defenders almost always easily outnumbered any attackers Rovers pushed forward and were useful on the break.

But the goals, when they arrived, were something of a surprise.

The new starting strike force of Sutton and Graham Fenton were both too high with chances in the first half when Billy McKinlay and Garry Flitcroft both got box-to-box on a number of occasions.

And Fenton had the best chance, set up by Niklas Gudmundsson - playing on the left - just before half time, only to see his shot cleared off the line. The lead had gone to Colchester in the 11th minute when Rovers, unusually for them, conceded from a corner.

A near-post cross saw prolific goalscorer Tony Adcock elude his markers to place a powerful header past Shay Given.

"Defending from corners is one of our strongpoints but we haven't done any work on that or set pieces yet," said Harford.

The second half pattern was one of Rovers taking command of the game.

Three subs, including Donis, came on 11 minutes into the half and another followed shortly afterwards when Sutton needed a stretcher.

An equaliser looked likely and it arrived in spectacular fashion.

Paul Warhurst played a neat short pass into the stride of Donis, who clearly appreciates such service, and he showed what he could make of it.

He flew into the penalty area and smashed a super strike high into the net.

More subs followed and Rovers buzzed about with more menace, even though Given had to make a first-class save from David Gregory.

But the match was settled in bizarre fashion in the third minute of stoppage time.

Robbie Reinelt, nearer the corner flag than the goal and only a couple of yards from the bye line, hooked a high, swirling, hopeful ball in the general direction of the far post.

It caught Given by surprise and swerved in by the angle of post and bar, with the keeper unable to get more than an indecisive touch on it as it entered the net amid his flailing arms.

For the young keeper it was a nightmare, for Reinelt it produced a big grin as he answered a local reporter's question: Was it a cross or a shot?

"A bit of both," he smiled.

Go on then, I'll believe you. Thousands wouldn't.

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