With the amount of travelling Dons fans do in a season they could have been excused for giving the match a miss but 200 supporters did make the effort and were in fine voice during the opening exchanges. Aberdeen started brightly with a good move involving former Blackburn player Duncan Shearer and Roy Aitken but the final high ball was easily gathered by Gennoe. Eoin Jess found himself free on the edge of the area after seven minutes but Gennoe dealt with his shot comfortably. Rovers nearly took the lead when Mike Newell brought the ball down and laid it back perfectly for Jason Wilcox. He cracked in a shot but Theo Snelders turned it round the post superbly. Jess had another effort saved by Gennoe after a fine flying Dons move.

But Blackburn began to show the sort of pedigree that has taken them to the top of the English Premier League exactly a year after Kenny Dalglish took charge of the then struggling Second Division side. Stuart Ripley, one of Dalglish's £1 million buys, twisted and turned in the area but his delicate chip deflected off Brian Irvine and wide. Rovers took the lead in 19 minutes after Wilcox burst through and Greg Watson was forced to head his cross over for a corner. Lee Makel, one of the crop of promising youngsters signed by Blackburn, played the corner short to RIPLEY and he turned before curling the ball past the stranded Snelders.

Makel, tipped as the new Gazza when he moved from Newcastle, then went on an excellent mazy run. His shot was charged down by Snelders, who was grateful to cling on to Ripley's shot from the rebound. Gennoe showed the reason he became such a favourite at Ewood Park when Brian Grant linked with Jess and found himself in the clear. But his shot which seemed destined for the bottom corner was turned past the post by the veteran keeper. Aberdeen almost drew level just before the interval when Paul Kane crossed and Andy Gibson tried to acrobatically chest a ball past Gennoe but put it just wide of the post.

Half-time: 1-0

At the interval Miller took the opportunity to swap Michael Watt and David Winnie for Snelders and Smith while Rovers put on Steve Agnew, Wayne Burnett and Alan Irvine for Tim Sherwood, Richard Brown and Gordon Cowans. But it was to no avail for the Dons for within a minute of the restart they were 2 down. Jason Wilcox broke on the left and crossed for Agnew. He was crowded out but knocked it back to Wilcox and his pinpoint cross was volleyed in by MAKEL past the stranded Watt who seemed rooted to the ground.

The Dons, in front of the 4,958 crowd, kept pressing however particularly through Jess. They had an appeal for penalty turned down when Jess crossed and Shearer appeared to be bundled over by Nicky Marker but the referee was having nothing of it. After 67 minutes Sherwood came back on to the pitch to replace Stewart Ripley and a minute afterward Scott Booth came on for Gibson. BURNETT made it 3-0 in the 75th minute. JESS scored Aberdeen's consolation with nine minutes to go.