What a refereshing site, a Rovers team that battled for every ball and had the fitness to do so for a full 90 minutes. A far cry from some of the displays of the bygone Souness era. When I saw the line-up I was a bit surprised by Johansson's shift to left-back but could understand Hughes' thinking what with McEveley a little mistake-prone and Short back. I was only hoping he wouldn't do one of his disappearing acts. I needn't have worried, he was superb. Rovers came out of the blocks like whippets (or other fast moving creatures) and should have gone ahead inside the first 2 minutes, some neat play in midfield, cracking ball by Tugay set Reid away and his cross should have been converted by Emerton at the far post. As it was, we didn't have to wait long for the first goal - a couple of other half-chances had come Rovers' way before Gallagher nipped in in front of a static Fulham defence to convert Reid's low cross. We were in front! A real novelty this season. It was forgivable to think we may sit back and try and grind out a one-nil win, however Rovers continued to tear into Fulham; Tugay, Emerton and Dickov were exceptional and Johansson was bombing up and down the left flank like a man possessed - twice in the first half his presence in the Fulham box caused havoc which could have lead to an opening. At the other end Radzinski - who I still maintain was offside when the ball was played - should have buried a one-on-one, but instead scooped it wide. Had Boa Morte been on the pitch it would've been 1-1. The rest of the first half was all one-way, although Rovers failed to make too many clear-cut chances, only Emerton's two shots from the edge of the box really stand out. But there was plenty to cheer about if you were wearing blue-and-white at half time. Inevitably Fulham started the second half brightly and forced an early corner but little else. Rovers were counter-attacking at pace with Emerton, Reid, Gallagher and Dickov giving Fulham's defence the runaround. As the half wore on the defence started to look a little edgy and once or twice only a last ditch block prevented Fulham getting a shot on goal. Then came, in my opinion, the defining moment of the game - Andy Cole burst past Todd and Neill (it might have been Short I couldn't quite see) after Johansson had got caught way upfield. Only a brilliant one-handed stop from Friedel kept us in front. Minutes later Dickov burst into the box and turned Zat Knight who blatantly stuck his arm out to divert the ball out of play. A penalty and Knight's second booking of the game. Dickov's penalty past Van Der Sar, who had replaced Crossley after an hour, was inch perfect. We were home and dry... That is until the Rovers defence returned to their jittery selves - so composed for 80 minutes, suddenly Diop, McBride and Cole all had shooting opportunities following defensive lapses but none really troubled Friedel. Thompson came on for the last few minutes and gave the ball away a lot, Emerton failed to make the most of a run on goal and Matteo came on to waste some time, and there it was, Blackburn's first away win of the season - and fully deserved; outbattled, outplayed, outran Fulham throughout. Play like that every week and we'll be vying for Europe not relegation. As an aside, once again Blackburn scored goals and no doubt next week Mark Lawrenson will be "unable to see where the goals are coming from". Someone should mail some glasses to the man. Match Ratings: Friedel - 7, Little to do apart from the save from Cole Neill - 8, Looked solid throughout Short - 7, Steady at the back but didn't win as many headers as I'd expected Todd - 6, Made a hash of several clearances but otherwise composed Johansson - 8, Played really well I thought as an overlapping full-back, tackled well and ran for 90 minutes Emerton - 9, Class throughout, ran Fulham's defence all over the place Tugay - 9, Ran midfield, thoroughly commited, do that every week! Ferguson - 7, Quiet I thought but his passing was near faultless Reid - 7, Few clumsy touches but his strength and power going forward created plenty of openings Dickov - 9, Man of the match, made Fulham's defence look like a pub side, ran them all over the park, held the ball up, played clever passes, virtually ran the game from the front. Fully deserved his goal. Brilliant. Gallagher - 7, Scored a good goal, got himself about a bit, faded a bit second half. Overall, a really, really good performance but those defensive frailties are still there and you have to wonder if it would have been different with Boa Morte on the pitch. I can go to bed happy tonight!

Ah ha! This picture explains De Pedalo's poor turning circle! They take an age to turn around.

I've just got back from a history lecture on race and ethnicity... guess which example of modern day racism came up.

We've got to start winning soon and should be looking at Birmingham as 3 points for the taking. Rovers 2-0 Birmingham Dickov, Thompson the goalscorers.

Reading through those assessments again has made my mind up for me. Forrest gets the vote.

Having voted for Clayton the first time around, I'm now at a loss as to who to go for now. In my opinion, Sherwood, Batty and Atkins could not be termed great - don't get me wrong, they were good players, but not of the calibre of others who have made it in so far - and I'd like to hear more about the Parkes' and Forrest's who I've never seen play.

When you look at the fixture list, games against Norwich are ones where we should be looking to pick up 3 points. Having said that, Norwich are not a bad little team; proved by their displays against Newcastle, Everton and Man United. Like us they lack a proven goalscorer and I think it'll come down to whoever wins the midfield battle on the day. Prediction: Norwich 0-1 Blackburn, Stead with a late winner.

We drew at Anfield 1-1 last season (I think it was last anyway) when Cole hit that screaming half-volley from about 30 yards. How it never won goal of the month I will never know...

We looked like getting relegated that year as well, and it was beating Liverpool that kick-started our season... maybe the same will be true here? Blackburn 1-0 Liverpool Ferguson (54)

This is going to be a tricky one for me to vote on. Whilst I know a bit about Clayton as a player, the only other players I recognise in the list are from my lifetime (e.g. the last 18 years), so I look forward to hearing from some of the other members of the forum putting forward their cases for the players I know little about

Congratulations, you get my nomination for 'worst post of the year'.

Damage Limitation. Rovers 1-3 Chelsea

Cuidado

Clitheroe Claret

I think it's fairly safe to say Mutu won't be playing.

I think we should get these two predicting every week...

I've just seen the goals on Match of The Day 2. Beforehand I'd held out the hope that our defending wasn't as bad as some had made out, how wrong I was. Pedestrian is the kindest thing I can say for it. Amoruso really does have the turning circle of a milk float with the pace to match. Neither centre-halfs picked up any of Middlesbrough's attacking players... it was just painful to watch

Stuart Ripley was one of my favourite ever Blackburn Rovers player's, probably because I feel the best part of football is to see wingers turning a full back inside out before delivering the perfect cross for the striker to nod home (Arsenal's quick counter-attacking is beginnning to win me over though) and Ripley did just that, often in tandem with Wilcox. The day we beat Sheffield Wednesday 7-2, Ripley was sheer class, setting up chances left, right and centre, an absolute marvel to watch. However, we're talking Blackburn Greats and, much as I highly regarded Ripley, I've read and heard too much about Douglas to vote for anyone else. He gets my vote.

Will the chat room be working today?

I bought Embrace's Fireworks album yesterday and it's simply stunning (if you like that sort of thing).

It doesn't bode well that, on BBC's football page here the Hitchcock to Rovers story appears under The Championship heading... ... Rovers 2-2 Middlesbrough

As did I American, but it was swiftly lost.

Not unless you happened to live next door to it and they began demolition at 1 in the morning. I can vouch for Luton's ground being in that list (if not the worst stadium in Britain) as it truly is a dump. It's sort of hidden in amongst tonnes of terraced houses, feels like you're sitting in a warehouse with corrugated iron everywhere, the food's awful - think it was £1.50 for a bag of crisps as well - the fan's are, generally, bullies and, until recently, the football there has been dire. A ringing endorsment, as you can see...

What an utterly disgraceful thing to say.

Does that mean 'posh' ones like Cheshire Blue can't go?