On behalf of all Rovers fans, may I offer David Bentley many congratulations on being called up to the full England squad for the vital European Championship qualifiers.

It's well deserved. I'm pleased McLaren has put pragmatism before pride and limited David's "detention" to one match.

I hope he plays a major part in the game and we know that he'll get quality crosses into the box.

It's just a shame Crouch is suspended for the Israel game as I could see him, in particular, profiting from David's deliveries.

It was all quiet on the transfer front at Ewood even as the desperate last few hours leading up to the closing of the window until January approached.

I take it as a sign of stability at Ewood that we were not scrambling for some over-priced "star" to be our saviour.

Even better, other than Gally's sensible loan move to Preston (and how they need him!) there were no departures either.

There was a strong rumour fuelled by Jermaine Defoe's apparent sighting at Ewood on Thursday, that we were going to sign him either to compensate for the loss of Benni McCarthy to Man Yoo or possibly with Gamst going the other way to Spurs, who are known to be long-term admirers.

In the end, no news was surely good news although I am not naive enough to rule out that some business was possibly merely put on hold until January.

Jason Roberts' sulks on Thursday night against MyPa, despite getting a start and scoring, also lent weight to a feeling that someone was either going or possibly unhappy because he wasn't going.

Or perhaps he was just annoyed because Matty Derbyshire decided to shoot on sight at every opportunity rather than pass?

Anyway, let's hope that's all behind us and any problems there might have been will not affect what appears to be a generally happy and motivated squad.

The expected and comfortable win over the Finns put us in the draw for the first round proper of the Uefa Cup and paired us with Greek side Larissa.

We meet up again with Giorgios Donis, The Greek Greyhound', who never quite achieved the legendary status in Blackburn that he undoubtedly enjoyed in his native country.

There were few Rovers players past or present faster than Donis up and down the wing, but it would have helped if, just occasionally, he would have taken the ball with him!

And so to Sunday's game. I doubt if we'll see a more comprehensive 1-0 drubbing all season.

Were City really that poor? Or was it as I suspect, that Rovers have grown into a side that can outplay all but the very best?

There were man of the match performances all round and whilst no-one would begrudge Ryan Nelsen his accolade, I thought Brett Emerton's display of all-out energy and commitment was awesome.

Mark Hughes and the team clearly now believe in themselves and it's heartening that the media "experts" are finally waking up to the truth that Wenger's wrong and Rovers are a bit of alright!