How often do you hear of new bands “struggling with the difficult second album?”.

The creative juices that served them so well for their debut seem to dry up with originality and innovation eluding them for the sophomore disc.

Should they succumb to the temptation to strike out in a fundamentally different direction and seek new admirers or stay true to the formula that served so well with familiar riffs and melodies?

If Blackburn Rovers was band, you’d have to say that they were in danger of falling between the two stools so far this season. I give you Exhibits A & B – the local derbies away to Burnley and Preston North End.

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Away to Burnley, we saw a side come to terms with the opposition, start to make inroads, do something a bit daft and then sit in resolutely to ensure that the spoils were shared. In fact, the best chances fell to the side down to ten men and Rovers fans rightly celebrated how their favourites had handled the tricky scenario.

Now let’s look back to last Sunday’s encounter at Deepdale...where did the inspiration come from?

Rovers seemed to settle reasonably well, reasonably quickly. The opposition did something a bit daft, lost a player and then they sat in resolutely to ensure that the spoils were shared. Is that a cover version or a tribute act?

Everything that we praised Rovers for at Turf Moor, Preston imitated last Sunday. They looked largely unruffled as Rovers laboured to find a spark of creativity to solve the puzzle of how to unlock a very disciplined defence. In another echo of a few weeks back, the best chances fell to the side with ten men and the fact that Rovers Player of the Match was Aynsley Pears speaks volumes.

At kick-off, Rovers' bench looked as strong as it had for many a game, with options aplenty if required, but with five of them used, no solution could be found to the conundrum of a massed Preston defence.

We didn’t know at the time but later on that very afternoon, the best club side in the world would have similar difficulties, at least until the eighth minute of stoppage time in their fixture. It was as if the Rovers game was a simulation to enable City to learn from the mistakes Rovers made in failing to exploit their numerical superiority. Rovers did not bring on a centre-back and throw him up front though, so perhaps that is the sophistication that Pep brings to these challenges. Pep as Sam Allardyce, cover versions all over the place.

Those supporters who enjoy seeing new experiences at matches would certainly have been able to chalk off an unusual one before the final whistle on Sunday. This assumes no Rovers fan also happened to follow Ajax, Liverpool or Uruguay games in the last 15 years or so...

The (I think legally at this point we are advised to say...) alleged biting incident that followed Owen Beck’s dismissal was quite extraordinary, to put it mildly. Unless part of Owen Beck’s pre-match ritual is to marinade himself in delicious barbecue sauce and carry a burger bun around the pitch on his shoulder it’s hard to understand just how events seemed to unfurl.

The FA has opened an investigation into the allegations and they will not be short of video evidence given the clips shown on TV and eagerly replayed across social media throughout Sunday.

Paul Heckingbottom at least had the decency to say that “There’s no place for [biting],” and confirmed that any such transgression by Osmajic would have to be dealt with. Put him on a vegetarian diet perhaps?

As for Rovers, the pattern so far is win at home, draw away and that’s a traditional recipe for success and were we to go a whole season unbeaten, but without an away win that would certainly be taking the band in a new direction.

QPR on Saturday offers a chance to keep the strong home run going but based on last Sunday, I’ll be hoping for Rovers to show more cutting edge, move the ball quicker and more accurately and create some chances.

Yes...we need more bite in our forward line.