Blackburn 0-2 Wolves: Premier League strugglers score two goals in two minutes to breeze into FA Cup fifth round

If this is to be John Eustace’s farewell at Blackburn Rovers then the goodbye tells a story of the eventual divorce.

Playing in Eustace’s image – boldly direct, leaving three up at Wolves corners, scaring their Premier League visitors even with standout players on the bench – Rovers should have been ahead by the time they imploded in one first-half minute that dramatically altered the direction of this tie.

Promise soon evaporated and a general acceptance of the disenfranchised swept through Ewood Park. This is by no means a new phenomenon here when, even nestled inside the Championship play-offs, hope of brighter futures doesn’t really spring.

Wolves fortuitously led via Joao Gomes three minutes after the half hour and took only 39 seconds following the restart to double that as Matheus Cunha thundered in. Despite flurries by Rovers, throwing on extra attackers, that was the game in that single minute.

Eustace will wonder if this is how the season ultimately pans out, how many of the seasons have panned out in this part of Lancashire recently, meandering in midtable without the wherewithal to sufficiently back a proper promotion tilt at a division they departed 13 years ago.

Derby County have come knocking for Blackburn’s manager over the weekend; the 45-year-old said nothing to quell the idea he is seriously considering whether swapping a team in the top six for one in the bottom three is a good career move.

Even allowing for some emotional ties – Eustace played for Derby and his family still live down in the Midlands – and even allowing for Derby’s ambitious plans, that this is even a conversation ought to be alarming.

While Rovers’ recent form, two wins in 11 in the league, will be concerning – and the table is becoming congested underneath them – they are, in theory and on the surface, set up to finish higher than any campaign since Steve Kean took them down. By finding himself attracted by elsewhere, Eustace is clearly seeing something that the table does not show.

He was given five new players in January which, again, seems perfectly progressive but there are rumblings that these were not on Eustace’s say so, rather those of head of football Rudy Gestede – who was here as a striker for two seasons under the ownership of Venky’s.

‘We’ll have a discussion with the owners,’ Eustace said. ‘I’m away from my family a lot. I’m working my socks off to make sure Blackburn are competitive and healthy. We were on our way down when I came here. We’ll have to discuss it with the owners.

‘It’s not about bargaining. It’s about seeing this club back where it should be, pushing at the top end with top quality players.’

The murmurings of discontent that are never far away arrived as Wolves knocked possession about with ease, some half-hearted chants for the owners to relinquish control. Yet the appetite for the sort of real war we saw waged here over a decade ago seems to have long dissipated. And to the outside world, Blackburn is a club who – with a fair wind and astute signings – could crash the party of parachute payments at one point.

Nobody sat in a stand with tatty, unloved Venky’s advertising or areas where the roofs look mucky really believes that though. The whole place needs a metaphoric lick of paint, an injection of life, and it is Eustace’s decision as to whether he can provide that under current constraints or otherwise.

They will dissect this afternoon and believe there was a scalp here for the taking. Dom Hyam’s header from a wicked John Buckley cross was wrongly ruled out for offside – another example of assistant referees becoming too used to not making tight calls in the age of VAR, with technology not in use all weekend – and Augustus Kargbo caused all manner of problems. Kargbo, booked for simulation in the box, flashed over with this goalless.

Wolves capitalised and Rovers goalkeeper Balazs Toth helped in that regard. Todd Cantwell lost a cheap ball in the build-up and Vito Pereira’s side struck on a turnover, Gomes forced wide but taking a touch and instinctively nudging – pushing like a curler at the sheet – underneath Toth, who took the sting out without stopping its progress.

Rovers kicked off and Wolves sewed it up, the hosts affording Cunha too much respect and once he ran off his markers, the Brazil international smashed across Toth. One mighty hit into the corner but a margin for error so small that Toth perhaps should have saved it.

‘Hopefully Hwang (Hee-Chan’s) injury isn’t serious,’ Pereira said after the striker hobbled off. ‘It’s a hamstring, we’ll see. It was the pitch. If you don’t face this game – tough ball, tough pitch, wind, tough team – with mentality it is hard. I didn’t want excuses. I’ve given them two days off because I’m happy with the mentality.’