It always pays to make the most of the highs when you're a Rovers fan. Enjoy them while you can, for you never know when they'll come crashing down around your ears.

So thanks to all the team down at Ewood for the stirring fightback from two goals down at The Valley with fifteen minutes remaining.

Not only did this keep alive our interest in another Cardiff trip but it also showed the new resilience that we have by the bucketload and instead of having an early night I found myself drawn to watching the ITV highlights.

Good old ITV. I have missed them since they lost the rights to the Premiership highlights. One has to have the utmost admiration for an organisation that can edit five goals into coverage lasting thirty seven seconds.

Still, even that couldn't dampen my enthusiasm. But having savoured this 'high' for three whole days I saw it all fall apart.

I should've known it was to be one of those days when after eagerly anticipating the Carling Cup draw we pull out the plum tie of.... Middlesbrough away!

Anyway, with that out of the way I was relatively confident of a win against what I consider to be a mediocre Everton side. And to watch us in the first twenty minutes there could be no other winner. We were 'at it' from the first whistle and some of the stuff we were playing was as good as anything seen this season.But when it goes wrong at the Rovers, it really goes wrong.

Not content with conceding as soft a goal that has not been seen since Souey was working his managerial magic, we are down to ten men in an instant.

As Andy Todd departed the scene, any hope we had of the three points went with him. I can't say whether the handball was deliberate, only Todd knows that, but could Mark Halsey, or should I say his assistant be completely sure? Once the consultation was over he almost got whiplash with the speed he went to his back pocket to brandish the said red.

If it was a mistake, and TV replays are by no means conclusive either way, it wouldn't be the first time that our friend from Bolton has done wrong in Rovers eyes. The one thing that is asked for more than anything is consistency.

The irony is that the scorer of Everton's first goal on Saturday - James McFadden - escaped punishment for deliberate handling on the line last week. If the correct punishment had been meted out he'd have been suspended for the Rovers game.

Lots of ifs, buts and maybes but none that will bring the three points back.

It's ludicrous to talk of big club conspiracies but there are Rovers fans who believe it's the case. I prefer to look at it as just plain old bad luck, and it will change soon ...won't it?