RHODES PARTING SHOT?

JORDAN RHODES shrugged off the fierce speculation over his future by snatching an injury-time winner for Blackburn at Ewood Park last night. This derby was drifting towards a goalless draw when Tom Cairney sent over a corner with 15 seconds remaining. Doneil Henry flicked on and Rhodes stuck out a boot to score his 14th goal of the season from close range. It was an amazing finish after 48 hours of transfer talk. Middlesbrough want to take Rhodes, 25, to the Riverside on loan for the rest of the season with a view to signing him permanently for a fee of £8million potentially rising to £10m. Their Championship rivals Derby, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest have also registered an interest in Blackburn’s record £8m signing who still has four-and-a-half years left on his contract at Ewood. Asked if he has been given assurances that Rhodes will not be sold, manager Gary Bowyer replied: ‘Yes, it just wouldn’t add up. Why would you loan out your top goalscorer? ‘My five-year-old nephew might be able to work that one out. I can’t answer on behalf of Middlesbrough but Jordan has just scored the winner and he will be starting at Charlton on Saturday. ‘He just handles the speculation enormously well. I was quietly confident of him scoring tonight, to be perfectly honest, because that’s what he does when there’s all the talk.’ Bowyer described this as Blackburn’s best win of the season after the physical and mental energy his players exerted in Sunday’s goalless FA Cup draw with Liverpool at Anfield. They lost Corry Evans and Marcus Olsson to injury in the first-half but Ben Marshall should have put them ahead in stoppage-time when he headed over from Craig Conway’s cross. Substitute Craig Davies wasted Bolton’s best chance when he raced clear only to shoot straight at Jason Steele, and Rhodes should have scored with a 79th-minute header from close-range before making amends. Conceding another late goal was a sickener for Bolton, who are not free of relegation danger. ‘It’s unacceptable,’ said manager Neil Lennon. ‘That’s five games in the last month and it’s cost us seven points. We’d be home and hosed but we still have work to do. ‘If we can’t defend a set-piece in the last 30 seconds... the players aren’t learning so we’ve got work to do to make them mentally stronger. I’m lost for words.’