He is now a key member of the Under 23s which are going well near the top of PL2. Looking a cultured defender in the video coverage I have seen. Currently behind Ayala, Lenihan, Williams, Wharton, Carter and Magliore so unlikely to see him in a League game any time soon but Rovers have given all of the aforementioned first team action so if he continues developing anything is possible. League 1 and League 2 are subject to wage caps so the opportunity for loans in the UK are very limited now.

There is always January

And the reason why not is financial support from Venky's right up to the very edge of FFP

Jack was a lifelong supporter. He was at Bury when the railway bridge collapsed.

Holtby isn't even taking up his full legal rights-I understand he is already back in the UK. He could have missed the next two games as well.

For those criticising Kaminski look where Johnson is though- I know the ball was travelling relatively slowly but Johnson is so deep it doesn't give an off balance Kaminski positioned to dive to his right to gather the shot any chance to shift his weight to go left.

I got number 10 wrong but their answer is incorrect I believe. Accrington Stanley came into existence in 1891 with the merger with Stanley Villa so the first game at Ewood in 1890 was against Accrington.

With that Watford defence, our best hope is for a 0-0

Went to that one. The save which Mimms pulled off and rolled over on it had all the Rovers fans convinced it had gone in. Then we were looking for the ball and finally astonished to see Bobby stand up with it. We got pummelled that day by Millwall but came away with the 3-1 win.

Two games ago Rovers were irresistibly fluid. I hope Saturday was a function of Holtby and Rothwell missing combined with Cardiff showing how to nullify Johnson and Dolan, block off Brereton and isolate Armstrong being replicated by Forest. Now there are three new outfield player signings who are "competing for places" which based on Saturday's showing should be a competition they win. My fervent hope is Elliott is able to play for us the way he has shown he can for Liverpool and disrupt the two solid lines of opposition shirts Cardiff and Forest have so effectively used against us. One player reliably doing that is going to create the space for Holtby, Rothwell and eventually Dack to cause mayhem. However, we have two and a third seasons of Mowbray in the Championship which sadly suggest you are right 47er.

I think the FA Youth Cup continuation is being played on the eligibility for 19/20 season. So players registered at the club and under 18 at 31 December 2018 and are still at the club. Otherwise much of the team which started out in the competition in September 2019 would now be debarred for being over age!

Plus we can expect at least some of the new signings and the players recovering from injury to get the permitted over age run outs in occasional games for the under 23s like Ayala did.

Helped by Rovers going into Calamity Jane mode for the last ten minutes as well. It was clear the confidence that any Rovers player could make a pass and we'd keep possession had drained out of the entire side.

Rovers won 1-0 at Southampton. Top of the table now: Chelsea U23 5 4 0 1 11:5 12 Brighton U23 5 3 2 0 9:5 11 Blackburn U23 4 3 1 0 9:3 10 Tottenham U23 4 3 1 0 7:2 10

McBride again after 12 minutes. iFollow Rovers don't seem to know the game has even started!

Nothing happening on either club's site. Rovers with a very young team reflecting the involvement of under 23s in yesterday's Forest game. 1 JORDAN EASTHAM (GK) 6 JOE GRAYSON (C) 5 SAMUEL BARNES 4 LOUIE JOHN ANNESLEY 11 BEN PATON 7 ISAAC WHITEHALL 2 DAN PIKE 3 LEWIS THOMPSON 8 JALIL SAADI 9 SAM BURNS 10 CONNOR MCBRIDE SUBSTITUTES 15 JAKE GARRETT 12 SAM DURRANT 14 JARED HARLOCK 13 AIDAN DOWLING

Southampton ran a live video stream last season- they offer a free live service at https://www.southamptonfc.com/b-team/matches/2020-21/saints-vs-blackburn-rovers-2020-10-18 but I don't know if that includes video. There is a text commentary at https://www.rovers.co.uk/matches/fixtures-results/u23-team2/202021/october/southampton-pl2-vs-blackburn-rovers-pl2-on-18-oct-20/

By my count we had 11 unavailable today. Pears Elliott Williams Rothwell Bennett JRC Travis Dack Butterworth Vale Holtby Douglas and Trybull were technically available but too recently signed to be considered so make that 13 out.

Like the first game of a new season. Even without Williams, Rothwell, JRC, Dack, Travis, Bennett, Butterworth for sure, there are enough returning and new faces available for this to feel like a completely new team. Would be cruel to drop Bell after he was one of the few to emerge with credit in the last two games. However, overall we have gone from a team which couldn't stop scoring to one which looks like it won't score again this side of Christmas. Elliott looks like he could have what it takes to unlock a massed defence so he comes in for Brereton for me. I would certainly play Trybull over Evans and Holtby for Buckley. Start with Gallagher and have Dolan as an impact sub. Dolan incidentally didn't do too badly but needed more mobility from other players around him to take advantage of space created by defenders not getting tight to him. Remember Watford have their own wonder kid. I fear we could get thrashed if Watford score early but am expecting a Bournemouth style of match with hopefully Rovers prevailing this time by the odd goal.

Let's get Downing signed PDQ after that performance.

Thing that bothers me is we are already 6 points off 2nd and have an away game at Watford up next. This season could suddenly turn into a long haul if we are not careful.

The big plus from today is that Rovers have eleven players on the books better than that lot. Evans was poor Johnson and capped off an inadequate performance with the assist for their goal. Buckley totally failed to take his big chance. Brereton back to being a nothingness. Bell had a decent game, Ayala looks immense and Kaminski cannot be faulted for the goal- that was a huge deflection.

Well that's 45 minutes I wouldn't want to live through again. Not even bothering to watch the replayed "highlights". The iFollow screen is terribly gloomy just to make it worse. All to play for second half. Mowbray earning his wage at HT hopefully.

Downing? No thanks- oh boy how we have been spoiled!

No apart from excessive adverts