Blackburn Rovers 1, Wanderers 1

ONE down, two to go! Wanderers have known for weeks that their promotion credentials would be worthless until they had been examined by the big-hitters.

Blackburn, Fulham and Watford ... three massive challenges in the space of 31 days would put the flying start to the season into perspective.

Well, Blackburn looked nothing special at Ewood Park on Saturday so now let's see what Fulham are made of!

You suspect Jean Tigana's expensively-assembled Cottagers - eight games, eight impressive victories - will have more about them than Graeme Souness' even more exorbitanly-mustered Rovers but, in the mood they are in at the moment, that shouldn't worry Wanderers one bit!

Don't expect the league leaders to be played off the park this weekend (we'll have to see a marked improvent for that to happen) but they'll have a fight on their hands and anything they take from the game will be hard earned.

Tough as well as talented these days, Wanderers have shown that they are good enough to go toe to toe with any of the contenders, however much has been spent to buy their way into the Premiership!

It seems churlish, under the circumstances, to point out that Bo Hansens' deflected late equaliser was not enough to claim a fifth successive away win and thus equal another all-time club record. Because, the way it was celebrated by players and fans alike, you'd have thought it was the matchwinner.

Rookie striker James Thomas, making his first league start, had lashed a shot across Jussi Jaaskelainen to give Rovers the lead after only 48-seconds and, for all their efforts, Wanderers were starting to think they'd be going home empty handed.

Defeat would have been an unjust result, though. Even Souness was sporting enough to acknowlede that, despite cursing the luck that caused Hansen's ambitous 30-yard strike to divert off Henning Berg and wrong-foot John Filan.

But who cares if Wanderers did get lucky? They were comfortably the better side in the first half, creating chances while the unshakeable Mark Fish and Gudni Bergsson denied the Rovers attack a second chance, and had enough character to take the game to the wire.

Consequently they've boosted their confidence, increased their points haul and - even allowing for the fact that Fulham and Watford managed wins - maintained their own status in the big-hitting mini-league at the top of the table.

"Blackburn were one of the teams we knew we'd have to judge ourselves against and we've shown that we've nothing to fear from them," Sam Allardyce acknowledged as he revelled in the deflected glory, admitting shamelessly that the late, lucky strike had left him with that winning feeling.

He'll continue to reserve judgment but he's seen enough evidence of mettle and determination to get the impression that his players are starting to think they cannot be beaten!

However, things might not have looked so encouraging today had Hansen's "Who dares wins" policy not paid such handsome dividends.

All the talk pre-match had been of contracts - Fish's much-publicised quandary over whether to re-sign or retire suddenly being oversadowed by news that Wanderers have been so impressed by the manager's impact in 11 months that they are preparing to offer him one of the longest deals in football. Such is the way with fans that, never mind how well Allardyce had done before, a derby drubbing would have led to murmurings about the directors' sanity!

But Wanderers are made of sterner stuff than that these days - hence the board's commitment to Big Sam - and, far from being demoralised by the early goal, they were inspired.

"It kicked us into life!" Anthony Barness suggested. "Our idea had been to go out and contain them because the gaffer had told us how well they'd started in recent games. Once they scored we just knew we'd have to work twice as hard or we'd go under!

"We had to dig deep but we were also confident that, the way we've been performing, we could always get a goal back."

Confident yes, but as the game entered its final phase, they knew they couldn't rely on Michael Ricketts to get them an equaliser. Promoted to the starting line-up having scored all his six goals coming off the subs' bench, it was Sod's Law that - just as he did when he started at Tranmere - the 21-year-old striker should draw only his second blank of the season before being withdrawn.

Not that he didn't have his chances because the industrious Dean Holdsworth and Gareth Farrelly set-up one-against-one duels with Filan, which the Rovers' keeper won - albeit on the second occasion with a challenge that looked suspiciously outside the penalty area!

Allardyce joked that he'll put Ricketts back on the bench in future but that's unlikely considering the young man's overall contribution to the game.

If nothing else, Ricketts' misfortune left the way clear for others to assume the role of hero and Hansen duly obliged.

But the foundation for the fighback was undoubtedly laid in defence. Nathan Blake scored three times against his old mates in the two games last season and had his appetite whetted by young Thomas' early success. Yet, for all the pressure Rovers applied, Fish and Bergsson always looked in charge.

At 26 and still improving, it's hard to know whether Fish would have gone through with his retirement plans but Bergsson - nine years older - was perilously close to hanging up his boots in the summer.

Allardyce, a centre half of some repute himself, knew he wasn't wasting his breath when he used his powers of persuasion to convince them both to keep playing.

Long may they reign!