Rovers ran out 2 - 1 winners despite non-league Northwich Victoria taking the lead on 31 minutes.New signing Paul Robinson is reported to have made a couple of good saves and was unlucky to concede the opening goal to a cruel deflection.
Blackburn lined up with a second strength side which included a few fringe players who impressed in the reserves and on loan last season. Treacy, Gallagher, Kane and Judge are all promising players who could push for a place in the first team with new boss Paul Ince.
John Byrom opened the scoring for the Blue Square Premier side and Blackburn had to wait until the second half before they drew level through a Paul Gallagher strike on 50 mins. It was another deflected goal which eventually decided the outcome of the match when Northwich player Matt Bailey was credited with an own goal 9 minutes after the equalizer.
Local lad Matt Debyshire also got a run out with Fowler partnering McCarthy up front. Fowler, 33, is currently trying to prove he can still cut it at the top level and, although Northwich are a non-league outfit, the game should have improved his fitness and allowed Paul Ince to evaluate his match performance during this pre-season tryout.
The other notable player in Rovers line-up was Zurab Khizanishvili at the back. The game allowed Paul Ince to try out different players and it will be nice to see a few players rewarded with some first team appearances during the coming season. Players like Kane, Treacy and Gallagher will all be hoping to impress Ince after being overlooked by Hughes on many occasions last season.
Meanwhile David Bentley's new team, Tottenham Hotspur, ran out 5 - 1 winners against Leyton Orient. Bentley made the transfer for £15 million following months of speculation. The amount could rise to £17m depending on appearances but it is reported that Arsenal will receive a percentage of the £15m due to a sell-on clause when Rovers originally signed Bentley from the London club in 2006.
The former Norwich player had become unsettled at Blackburn after they failed to qualify for European football and he believed a move to a bigger club would help him further his career, especially on the International scene, however, Spurs actually finished below Rovers in the league last term and it will be interesting to see how both teams fare this season.
Goalkeeper Robinson, who moved in the opposite direction last week after being told he no longer featured in the managers plans at White Hart Lane told the Telegraph "The amount of players Tottenham are losing, it is going to be a rebuilding job for them."
"Not long after Juande Ramos came in, he made his thoughts and things quite clear to everyone, so it is a relief to be out of there now and it's nice to be wanted again."
Both players made the switch to improve their chances of gaining more international caps and the former England #1 added "I have a bit of hunger back which maybe I've missed the last couple of years. I feel I can be England's No 1 again." He also told Sky Sports "I want to start playing well on a consistent level and get back in the England team. I'm 28 and I've got 42 caps and I intend to add to those."
It will be interesting to see which player will benefit the most by switching clubs over the next few seasons. Bentley will be a big loss to Blackburn as he was very impressive in many games since he was signed in 2006, not least in the first game after signing his contract with the Lancashire club - scoring a hat-trick against bitter rivals Manchester United.
However, many big money moves have taken players like Damian Duff & Chris Sutton to bigger London clubs in the past but they've struggled to live up to their price tags in many people's eyes following their moves away from Ewood Park.
Darwen Online will feature more match reports and results from Blackburn Rovers and Darwen FC throughout the 2008/09 season. Bookmark us for and call back for future result and match report / match details. Next up is a friendly against Wolves on Saturday 2nd August at the Molineux stadium.
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