Andy Cole on Tuesday started to repay Graeme Souness' £8million faith in him - only for Efan Ekoku to give Sheffield Wednesday a Worthington Cup lifeline.

Goal-king Cole recently chose to quit Manchester United due to Sir Alex Ferguson's persistence in playing the prolific Ruud van Nistelrooy as a lone striker.

Cole was more often left to do nothing more than warm the bench, and in turn watch his World Cup chances with England fade into the sunset, rather than fire up hopes of being on the plane to the Land of the Rising Sun this summer.

Souness, who has been left frustrated by his side's failure in front of the net this season, wasted no time in making a move for the 30-year-old just after Christmas.

Cole, in turn, was just as quick to sign a three-and-a-half year deal, rumoured to be worth around £25,000 per week, with Souness hoping he now has the firepower to lift his side away from the Premier League relegation zone.

Rovers plummeted to 15th with their sixth defeat in seven matches on New Year's Day as Cole made his debut in a 1-0 loss against Spurs at White Hart Lane.

In contrast, the Worthington Cup has proved a welcome distraction from such woeful league form and Rovers seemed to be on the brink of the final as they took a crucial 2-0 lead by half time in this first leg at Hillsborough, with Cole netting the second.

But Rovers clearly reckoned without a spirited Wednesday fightback, with the Owls just one off the bottom in the First Division, deserving to be heading to Ewood Park for the return in a fortnight's time on level terms.

Wednesday, who had disposed of Sunderland and Aston Villa in earlier rounds, should have made a dream start as the Rovers players appeared to still be on the team bus.

Pablo Bonvin, the Argentinian striker starting his first game since November 10, curled in a delightful left-wing cross after just 26 seconds for Paul McLaren to power in a close-range header keeper Brad Friedel tipped over the bar.

Blackburn finally woke from their slumber, responding with two chances of their own in the 10th minute, with Turkey international defender Tugay the creator both times.

David Dunn first cracked a 20-yard drive just over the angle of bar and post, then Cole drilled in an angled left-foot shot which Kevin Pressman comfortably gathered.

But it was a taste of things to come for just before the half-hour mark Rovers took the initiative with a simply worked goal, and with Tugay again the instigator with a through ball to Damien Duff.

Duff's cross from the left-hand edge of the Wednesday area first evaded Cole, but there was Craig Hignett to steer the ball home into the roof of the net for his second goal in two games following his face-saving equaliser against Barnsley in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Cole and Hignett then combined to set up Alan Mahon, who looked a yard offside, only for play to continue and Wednesday to breath a sigh of relief as the Republic of Ireland international fluffed his six-yard shot.

When Souness made a tactical change in the 36th minute with Mahon replaced by Mark Hughes, it was the first time the now Wales manager and Cole had been paired together since the end of the 1994-95 season with Manchester United.

Cole had joined in January of 1995, with Hughes leaving to join Chelsea the summer of that year, also after giving seven years service to the Old Trafford giants.

Cole certainly seemed to revel playing in familiar colours, with Blackburn in their away strip of red, white and black, and it was a familiar-looking scenario when he then poached what appeared to be a decisive second six minutes before the break.

It was surely one of the easiest finishes of his career as Cole rifled home from a yard Duff's low goal-line ball delivered at pace, a cross which had left Pressman in no man's land.

Blackburn must have sensed Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on the horizon for they slipped out of gear until late in the second half, with Wednesday gaining reward for their endeavour six minutes after the break.

Phil O'Donnell charged down right-back John Curtis' punt out of defence, collected the loose ball and delivered a near-post cross for Ekoku to steal in front of Short to steer home his seventh goal of the season.

Friedel pulled off a stunning save from a powerful Ekoku header, while Bonvin wasted two superb chances, before Duff and Dunn could have easily restored the two-goal cushion in the closing 15 minutes.

Teams

Sheff Wed: Pressman, Haslam, Bromby (Morrison 83), Westwood, Geary, O'Donnell (Hinchcliffe 65), McLaren, Hamshaw, Quinn, Ekoku, Bonvin (Crane 65).

Subs Not Used: Stringer, Maddix.

Booked: Ekoku.

Goals: Ekoku 52.

Blackburn: Friedel, Bjornebye, Curtis, Short, Taylor, Dunn, Tugay, Duff, Mahon (Hughes 36), Hignett (Gillespie 71), Cole.

Subs Not Used: Kelly, Jansen, Johansson.

Booked: Dunn, Curtis.

Goals: Hignett 28, Cole 39.

Att: 30,883

Ref: A D'Urso (Billericay).