Alex Ferguson holds the key to his old friend Brian Kidd and Blackburn's Premiership survival.

Quite simply Rovers must beat Manchester United at Ewood Park on Wednesday to have a chance of avoiding the unthinkable and relegation to the Nationwide League.

That is the mammoth task confronting Rovers after the body blow of this defeat against Nottingham Forest's 10 men at Ewood Park.

With Southampton winning at Wimbledon, Blackburn are five points adrift of Saints and safety with two games to play.

They must win both of those matches to have any chance of surviving and first up are United on Wednesday.

The fates have certainly been cruel to Kidd and Ferguson. If Blackburn and Kidd win, then that could derail United and Ferguson's Treble dream. Defeat for Rovers would confirm their descent to the First Division.

It promises to be an unpleasant night for either Kidd or Ferguson in a game neither manager can afford to lose.

Kevin Gallacher will really be hurting tonight as he reflects on his missed penalty before half-time when the game was delicately poised at 1-1.

The Scottish international had hauled Rovers level with a superb chip, but that now counts for little after Mark Crossley touched his spot-kick on to the post.

As ever Kidd had been hampered by injuries and Jason McAteer and Ashley Ward were the latest additions to the crocked list.

Kidd refuses to hide behind his overflowing treatment room and he calls it "a fact, not an excuse". He was boosted by the return of Matt Jansen, who has recovered sooner than expected following his knee operation.

Rovers owner Jack Walker did his bit to help and before kick-off he came on to the pitch to appeal to the home fans to get behind the team.

Walker, perhaps mindful of the £19million he has given Kidd for new players, called on them to remember 1995 when they stuffed Forest 7-0 on the official opening of the redeveloped Ewood Park.

The Blackburn supporters answered his rallying call only for them to be silenced when Forest opened the scoring on 11 minutes.

Rovers failed to clear a corner and Hugo Porfirio squared the ball to Dougie Freedman, just inside the Rovers area, who hooked home his 12th goal of the season.

Back came Blackburn and Crossley thwarted Damien Duff with a fine diving save to his right. Gallacher then produced his moment of magic to haul Rovers back into the game on 25 minutes.

Keith Gillespie cut in from the right and found him just outside the 'D' of the Forest area, from where he chipped Crossley to perfection for his fifth goal of the campaign and first in 1999.

Forest refused to lie down, even though they have been relegated, and John Filan produced a fine save to touch away Freedman's 20-yard drive.

Freedman continued to harass the Rovers defence and he forced another decent save from Filan.

Then came the moment when Gallacher went from hero to zero after he was pulled down by Steve Chettle, who was dismissed by referee Graham Poll.

Gallacher got up to take the spot-kick, only for Crossley to touch his effort on to the post.

Lee Carsley had an effort cleared off the line and as tempers began to fray in stoppage time, Jason Wilcox was somewhat fortunate to escape with a booking after he appeared to raise his fists to Porfirio, who was also shown the yellow card.

Wilcox and Porfirio carried their row into the second half and Poll took the pair aside to warn them that any more trouble and they would be joining Chettle on the sidelines.

Rovers were dealt a crushing blow when Forest retook the lead in the 56th minute. Chris Bart-Williams played a one-two with Porfirio before beating Filan from just outside the area.

Blackburn really were staring into the relegation abyss and Kidd responded by bringing on Kevin Davies and Damien Johnson for Jansen and Gary Croft in an attempt to regain the initiative.

Still Blackburn made little headway against Forest, whose manager Ron Atkinson must be wondering they could not have played like this when it mattered.

The situation was becoming more and more desperate for Rovers with each minute that passed and Kidd played his final card when he brought David Dunn on for the ineffective Duff with a quarter of the game remaining.

Blackburn's shambolic state was painfully rammed home by the fact that Forest's 10 men easily kept them at bay.

Only in the final 10 minutes did Blackburn threaten Crossley's goal again when Gallacher headed over from Davies' cross and Peacock drove over.

Substitute Bernard Allou almost added insult to injury when his deflected shot went just the wrong side of the post in 88th minute. But there were no more goals and instead everything now hangs on Wednesday night.

Teams:

Blackburn: Filan, Croft (Johnson 61), Henchoz, Peacock, Davidson, Gillespie, Carsley, Wilcox, Duff (Dunn 68), Gallacher, Jansen (Davies 59).

Subs Not Used: Broomes, Flowers.

Booked: Wilcox.

Goals: Gallacher 25.

Nottm Forest: Crossley, Louis-Jean, Gough, Chettle, Bonalair, Porfirio (Allou 70), Palmer, Bart-Williams, Rogers, Harewood (Edwards 90), Freedman.

Subs Not Used: Lyttle, Van Hooijdonk, Beasant.

Sent Off: Chettle (45).Booked: Louis-Jean, Porfirio.

Goals: Freedman 12, Bart-Williams 56.

Att: 24,565

Ref: G Poll (Tring).