STRIKER Jamie Clarke scored twice as Blackburn Rovers under 18s beat Leicester City 3-2 in the season opener at Brockhall.

Clarke, the Academy's joint top scorer last season, fired Rovers into the lead on 35 minutes after a neat ball from Mamadi Keita.

Josh O'Keefe doubled the lead just after the break with a superb shot from the edge of the area, and Clarke netted his second on 77 minutes, drilling home after a mistake by the Foxes keeper.

Leicester pulled two late goals back but Gary Bowyer's men held on for the points.

For 85 minutes we were excellent,'' said Bowyer. But in the final five minutes we allowed them back in the game and that led to a nervous ending to the game.

Our play for the majority of the game was good, we kept the ball well and passed it well and scored some good goals.'' The Academy are next in action on Saturday when they travel to London to take on Tottenham Hotspur.

ROVERS: Jones, Bateson, O'Keefe, Ahmed, Winnard (c), Pezzoni, Judge, Keita, Clarke, Dadson, Haworth. Subs not used: Roberts, Somodi, Skidmore, O'Connor, McCubbin.