On reflection, I think you are right, Den. The 4-2 game was at Bolton who were promoted as Champions. I think we staged a brave comeback from 3-0 to 3-2 but conceded a fourth near the end.

I was a mere nipper at the time so apologies in advance for any inaccuracies, but here is how I remember this classic game. 27000 packed Turf Moor to watch Rovers, pushing for promotion under Jimmy Smith, against mid-table Burnley in the old Division 2 (now the Championship). I remember paying on the gate (or more specifically, my Dad paying!) and sitting right at the back of the Cricket Field stand behind the goal. There were plenty of Rovers in there. The first half was extraordinary. We had the mercurial Dave 'Waggy' Wagstaffe on the left wing - the first man ever to be shown a red card in English League football playing for Rovers at Leyton Orient...for the benefit of our younger members, prior to the mid-70s, in the rare event of a sending off, the perpetrator was dispatched by the ref simply pointing to the tunnel - and the late, great Noel Brotherston on the right. They bagged one a piece, with Noel at his magical best, and Keith Fear, a small, bearded on-loan striker from Bristol City notched a third to see us go in 3-0 up at half time. Added to the first half excitement was the sight of Burnley's danger man, Steve Kindon (affectionately known as the 14 stone runaway wardrobe) being stretchered off after a collision with our uncompromising centre half, John Waddington. The second half began with the Claret tactics there for all to see - they had three men marking Noel from the restart! Sadly for them, the tactic didn't work too well and within five minutes they had conceded a penalty. Fear strode up to take it...and missed. And in that moment, the game started to turn. We came under more and more pressure and when our highly rated right back, Kevin Hird, had to go off, his place was taken by Glenn Keeley, a magnificent centre half but, God bless him, no full back. He was up against Tony Morley, later to leave Burnley and become a part of Aston Villa's 1980 Championship winning team (proper Championship!). Morley twisted and turned and created the pass to pull one back for the hosts. Then, with five minutes left, he bamboozled Killer Keeley and went down in the box - clearly a dive (!), but not how the ref saw it, and Peter Noble, he of the shiny bald pate, converted the penalty for 3-2. The last few minutes were desperate as we hung on for a famous victory. Rovers ultimately finished 5th that season, having challenged well until the loss of Smith to the Big Club after Christmas. Right up there with us for most of the season were Blackpool. They thumped us 4-2 at Bloomfield Road around the beginning of February with their twin strikers Mickey Walsh and Bob Hatton doing the damage (Walsh was the leading scorer in Division 2 in 1977, Hatton in 1978). Then, quite bizarrely, they failed to win another game for the rest of the season and ended up being relegated on the last day of the season. They had 37 points (under the old two points for a win rule). The SEVEN teams above them had 38 and Rovers, in fifth place, had 45. Quite a game, quite a season. And thanks for the memories, Noel. You were quite a player.

30 years. My Dad was transferred to Blackburn with his job in 1975 and was put up in the same hotel as Jim Smith, who'd just been appointed manager at Ewood. Jim (great bloke, by the way) got us tickets to the first game of the season (4-1 v Oldham) and we were hooked. Narrow escape, though - Dad's boss in his prior job in the Lake District was a mad keen Claret and he'd taken us to a couple of games at't Turf before we moved to Blackburn. Fortunately they lost both games and we thought they were too poor to follow seriously!