BLACKBURN Rovers must head for Sunderland later this week with the aim of saving a season which is fast in danger of going down the pan.

Veteran hit-man Dion Dublin became the latest Premiership striker to put Rovers' flimsy defence to the sword as Graeme Souness's side crashed to a second damaging defeat in the space of five days at the hands of a team wearing claret and blue.

And a third reverse at the Stadium of Light would be simply too much to bear given what's already happened in the last fortnight.

Rovers had started the New Year with high hopes of challenging for Europe on three separate fronts during the second half of the season.

But little more than a month on, now the FA Cup represents the only realistic route after their charge for a top-six spot has all but ground to a halt.

The rot set in on the night when Manchester United extinguished Rovers' dreams of a second successive appearance in the Worthington Cup final and the performances since have been bad enough to drive a Methodist to drink.

If you thought things couldn't get much worse than Wednesday night's performance at West Ham then think again because this inept display was comfortably the most disappointing of the season so far.

Woeful defensively, one-dimensional in midfield and completely toothless in attack, the visitors did absolutely nothing right on the day as only Brad Friedel and Garry Flitcroft emerged from the game with much credit.

And on this evidence, it's going to come as an almighty relief when Rovers finally secure the six more points required to guarantee Premiership football at Ewood Park next season.

"A big part of playing football at the highest level is not giving goals away," said Souness, as he reflected on a hugely disappointing afternoon.

"If you're giving teams a start, your heads go down and their chests come out and we've been guilty of that on more than one occasion this year.

"We know we can pass it, we know we can create problems when we play against teams but, defensively, all year we've been guilty of giving soft goals away which has put us on the back foot and I think this typified it today.

"The first goal was a very poor one to give away then as we approached half time we cocked it up again by gifting them a second and at 2-0 the game was over."

In fairness to Rovers, there are extenuating circumstances behind their recent slump in fortunes.

With six key players out through a combination of injuries and suspensions, Souness doesn't have the strength in depth required to cope with such a weighty number of absentees.

And it's in defence in particular where Rovers' collective lack of experience was so cruelly exposed by a Villa side who were desperate for revenge following their recent cup humiliation.

By the same token, the creative talents of Damien Duff and David Dunn were also sorely missed in midfield.

In the last two games, Rovers have mustered a miserly TWO shots on targets and their inability to create anything meaningful going forward has only served to increase the pressure on the players at the back.

For me, though, one of the biggest problems has been in the centre of the park where Flitcroft is currently being asked to do the work of two men.

Tugay, for all his neat passing, can sometimes be a luxury away from home and he simply didn't have the legs to track the lung-busting runs of Thomas Hitzlsperger and Joey Gudjonsson who bristled with energy and invention.

As a result, it was Villa who called all the shots and new-boy Vratislav Gresko must have wondered if he'd made the right decision in signing until the end of the season after spending the vast majority of an uncomfortable afternoon chasing his tail on the left-hand side of midfield.

Ironically, Rovers could have made the dream start by scoring themselves inside the opening minute when Yorke charged down a Peter Enckelman clearance only for Tugay to blaze wildly over from the pull-back.

From that moment on, however, it was all Villa and barely sixty seconds later they found themselves ahead after being gifted the softest of openers.

Gudjonsson swung over a free-kick from the left and Dublin shrugged off Martin Taylor all-too-easily before guiding a careful header inside the far post.

Villa's tails were up and Friedel then had to save from both Ronny Johnsen and Steffan Moore before Dublin pounced to score his second of the afternoon five minutes before the break.

Yorke gave the ball straight to Gudjonsson who in turn fed Gareth Barry and the England man swapped passes with Johnsen before finding Dublin on the edge of the box from where he steered a cool finish beyond Friedel's despairing dive.

In contrast, Rovers created precious little going forward apart from a long-range effort from Gresko.

Souness decided enough was enough and replaced John Curtis with Egil Ostenstad at the start of the second half but the introduction of the Norwegian failed to spark a revival.

In fact, if anything, Villa grew even stronger as the game wore on.

Moore fired wide, Friedel reacted sharply to repel a blockbuster from Darius Vassell and Hitzlsperger underlined just why he's known as 'the Hammer' with two thumping drives which both went close.

Rovers, meanwhile, bore the look of a side who were completely devoid of attacking ideas, although they finally mustered their first shot on target in the 78th minute.

Ostenstad fed Yorke who laid the ball off for Garry Flitcroft but the skipper's low drive was shovelled around the post by Enckelman.

That proved to be a false dawn, however, as Villa then hammered home their superiority with a third goal nine minutes from time.

The ball broke favourably for Ulises De La Cruz on the right following a meaty challenge between Jay McEveley and Mark Delaney and the substitute's cross found an unmarked Barry who stepped inside a defender before sweeping the coollest of finishes past Friedel.

Even then, Villa still had time to carve out one last chance.

Vassell wriggled his way clear in the 88th minute but Friedel stood firm and made the save.

By then, though, the damage had been done.

ASTON VILLA 3

Scorers: Dublin 2, 40 Barry 81

ROVERS 0