BLACKBURN Rovers may not exactly be the land of milk and honey right now, but Gary Bowyer could afford a smile and a few dubious puns after a bizarre bee infestation failed to disrupt his side’s pre-season preparations at Oldham Athletic.

The sight of beekeepers on the pitch before kick-off is not a common one in English football, but that was exactly what happened at Boundary Park on Saturday afternoon as a swarm of bees gathered on a temporary goal brought out on to the pitch for the warm-up.

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If Bowyer has much to ponder right now, as he tries to navigate his way through a transfer embargo while star striker Jordan Rhodes makes it clear he wants to speak to Middlesbrough, he has certainly not lost his sense of humour.

“We were just told that we might have to put the kick-off back but obviously when the ref came and told us it could go ahead I was buzzing,” he said, to a mixture of laughter and groans.

“I can’t believe you’re giving me stick for that!” he continued.

“I didn’t think that was too bad, you’ve got everyone swarming over here to try to get another one but it’s not going to happen!”

Bowyer is very serious about the work ahead at Rovers, but it was hard not to see the funny side of Saturday’s bee escapades.

Boundary Park has previously been nicknamed Ice Station Zebra for its cold winter temperatures, but this time fans were kept outside the ground until 2.35pm while beekeepers complete with full protective suits and leaf blowers were called in.

Beekeeper John Ogden admitted: “I have never been phoned saying, ‘We have got a football match in an hour, can you come and clear some bees’.

“Somewhere within a few hundred yards a hive had got overcrowded. When the hive gets overcrowded, the queen bee decides she is going to take half the bees with her.

“They send out scout bees to search for a new home. It’s usually the branch of a tree but it can be anywhere.”

The beekeepers sprayed the insects with sugar syrup and put most of them into a box, as the leaf blower was used to try to get rid of the rest.

An area in the corner of the pitch was taped off in the hour before kick-off, before the match was able to start at 3pm as planned.

“It’s been an absolute hive of activity here today,” Oldham announced to supporters over the public address system once they were inside the ground.

“We’ve had a swarm of bees here and they didn’t pay the entrance fee so we had to throw them out.”

Rovers went into the game with a depleted squad as Jordan Rhodes, Rudy Gestede, Chris Brown, Chris Taylor, Corry Evans and Darragh Lenihan all missed out through injury, while Ben Marshall was ill. New signing Fode Koita is still building up fitness.

It meant Rovers again started a game without a recognised striker, as they did at Rochdale on Tuesday.

This time attacking midfielder John O’Sullivan played a lone front role, although Nathan Delfouneso came on to lead the line and score in the second period.

Delfouneso also had a hand in Craig Conway’s goal and showed good movement up front as he looked as busy as a, er, bee during an impressive 45-minute trial appearance.

Academy starlet Willem Tomlinson, 17, started and continued his impressive pre-season in a central midfield role.

Rovers keeper Jason Steele had his palms stung in the first half, not by any of the bees that had occupied that end of the field, but by a shot from Lee Croft.

Former Rovers defender Gavin Gunning headed off target during a trial appearance for Oldham, who had the better of the opening period.

But on came Delfouneso at half time and he broke the deadlock just before the hour mark as he escaped the attention of his marker to head home Craig Conway’s right-wing free kick.

Rovers fans were quickly chanting Delfouneso’s name and he almost scored again as he headed narrowly off target from another Conway free kick.

The striker then provided the assist for Conway to surge into the box from the left and hammer an angled shot into the top corner to confirm Rovers’ victory six minutes from time.

Rovers: Jason Steele (Simon Eastwood 46); Ryan Nyambe (Adam Henley 46), Shane Duffy, Matt Kilgallon (Grant Hanley 46), Tommy Spurr; Craig Conway (Luke Wall 89), Jason Lowe (Connor Mahoney 62), Willem Tomlinson (Lewis Mansell 74), Lee Williamson, Markus Olsson (Nathan Delfouneso 46); John O’Sullivan.

Oldham: David Cornell; Connor Brown (Jack Tuohy 72), James Wilson (George Edmundson 73), Gavin Gunning, Joe Mills (Jack Truelove 46); Lee Croft (Alen Ploj 46), Mike Jones (George Green 46), Liam Kelly (Tim Dieng 46), Carl Winchester (Trialist 64), Daniel Philliskirk; Rhys Murphy (Rhys Turner 46). Sub not used: Joel Coleman.