THANKS to the demands of Sky TV, we crowded into Ewood Park on a balmy Friday night.

Pre-match refreshments were consumed in the Fernhurst amid debates with Rovers fans as to who has had the more miserable start and who is in the worst financial position.

Both sets of fans agreed that the future is uncertain with wild rumours about their manager and our chairman flying about this week, all denied by the respective clubs.

The match turned out to be a typical gritty Lancashire derby match with no quarter asked and no quarter given.

Chances were at a premium while cards were aplenty, dished out by the over-zealous referee Paul Tierney, especially if you wore black.

How he missed the trip on Zach Clough in the penalty area I do not know.

In the end it was a well-deserved point in a match where we finished the stronger.

There are signs that the defence is coming together, around Dorian Dervite who seems to be growing into the senior role.

More’s the pity that we are going to lose him for the next game after his unnecessary rash challenge in added time.

The midfield worked their socks off with Mark Davies and Neil Danns outstanding.

Which leaves us with the forwards who have yet to start firing this season.

At the end of the day, football is about scoring goals and the teams that score the most goals end up challenging for promotion.

Last season we managed a paltry 54 goals compared to the 88-98 scored by the three promoted teams. That’s a lot of goals we need to find from somewhere.

Encouragingly, apart from the Middlesbrough match, we have been competitive in every match.

Confidence plays a big part particularly with strikers and I’m sure that once Gary Madine and Zach Clough get off the mark, goals will flow.

Even Harry Kane and Wayne Rooney have failed to score this season in the league.

But we cannot leave it just to the forwards, everyone has to chip in with their quota from midfield and defence.