Howard Kendall did not stay long enough to see Roy Hodgson puffing contentedly on a Cuban cigar after Saturday's match, which was probably just as well. After watching his side's hopes of a first Premiership away win since December go up in smoke, Everton's troubled manager could scarcely contemplate such luxuries.

Had this exhilarating game finished 10 minutes earlier, the Everton "crisis" would doubtless have been proclaimed over - at least until the next defeat - and Kendall would be contemplating job security into the millennium.

Instead, by allowing the substitute Damien Duff and Tim Sherwood their late goals, Everton reaffirmed their tendency to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. With trips to Aston Villa and Chelsea next on the agenda, their immediate future looks decidedly bleak.

Although Everton twice led through Gary Speed and Duncan Ferguson, their vulnerability at crosses and corners provided Blackburn with the victory their exciting wing play and patience deserved.

Stuart Ripley had a hand in all three goals, taking the corners from which Kevin Gallacher and Sherwood scored and providing the cross from which Duff equalised after Chris Sutton's header had been brilliantly stopped.

Blackburn Rovers: Flowers, Kenna, Sherwood, Pedersen, Ripley, Gallacher, Sutton, Flitcroft (Duff 73), McKinlay, Croft (Wilcox 79), Henchoz. Subs Not Used: Bohinen, Broomes, Fettis. Booked: Wilcox. Goals: Duff 81, Gallacher 37, Sherwood 84.

Everton: Southall, Barrett, Hinchcliffe, Williamson (Farrelly 76), Phelan, Stuart (Branch 84), Ferguson, Speed, Short, Bilic, Cadamarteri (Oster 45). Subs Not Used: Watson, O'Toole. Booked: Bilic, Phelan. Goals: Ferguson 55, Speed 7.

Referee: P E Alcock (Redhill).