The most amazing of all the games Rovers played at this time was that against Accrington on 4th November 1878. Forty foot scaffolds were erected at both ends of the ground and a lamp placed at each end throwing out 6,000 candle power. The lights worked and the first Rovers game to be played under floodlight passed off happily with a 3-0 win for the home side. Despite a large paying crowd of 6,000, many others watched for free on the adjoining hillsides.

Although that project showed the ambition of Rovers, they were about to face a setback at the hands of new boys Blackburn Olympic. Their first meeting, at Alexandra meadows on February 15th resulted in a humiliating 3-1 defeat and led to press criticism. Although Rovers were slightly under-strength the result was still a shock, with local press praising the Olympic side for their “cohesion” and declared them “one of the best, if not the best, club in town.”

While Rovers tried to aim for the stars it seemed there were too busy watching those to see their feet getting tripped up by more minor, local concerns. Darwen and Olympic were their main rivals now. Darwen were the first of the clubs to enter the FA Cup, reaching the second round in 1877/78. The following season they shocked the footballing world by not only reaching the quarter finals but also by taking the famed Old Etonian side, captain by the nationally renowned greatest footballer in the country, Lord Kinnaird, to two replays before eventually losing the second of those 6-2. Despite the eventual loss, Darwen had sent shockwaves throughout the competing teams. Unsurprisingly, Rovers decided they wanted a piece of that kind of action. They would steal a march on their upstart rivals of Olympic by representing the town of Blackburn in the FA Cup in the 1879/80 season. It would also be their first season competing in the Lancashire Cup.

That is where Rovers as a football club really begins. That is when they started to challenge for trophies and enter the world of national football. Their energies now would not be devoted to the friendlies they played but towards the cups. It is also where the very early years of Blackburn ends. Rovers the club was now a force of its own, growing in stature which each competitive season. It was no longer without a ground or with one that contained a drainage pool. The club had gone from being a nothing club to being ready to compete at the highest level in four short years. Blackburn Rovers as we know it was about to begin. They were also about to take on the best of the aristocracy and the best of the South. And win.