Thankfully, they posed no opposition in the FA Cup and so Rovers marched on. In the Lancashire Cup, Rovers had had another amazing semi final escape. For the second successive year they lost at that stage, this time to Preston North End and yet once again their victors was chucked out the competition, this time for fielding ineligible players. It wasn’t to be quite so much of a fairytale though as Bolton Wanderers beat 1-0 in the final played at Deepdale. They gained some consolation by beating Accrington to win the East Lancashire Charity Cup and followed it up with yet another FA Cup win. Rovers had added a half back to their team in Joseph Heyes and also brought the forward, local boy ‘Tot’ Strachan back into the team. ‘Tot’ had played in the losing 1882 final side but been unlucky not to have been selected for the 1884 or 1885 finals.

Once again, the progress to the semi finals was mostly straight forward. Wins over Church (2-0), Oswaldtwistle Rovers (a surprisingly close 1-0), Darwen Old Wanderers (6-1, they were not linked to main Darwen club), Staveley (7-1) and Brentwood (3-1) to set up a semi final date in Derby to play Swifts. Swifts were from Slough in the south and were surprise semi finalists. They had reached the semis once before but that had been a decade back in 1876. Despite this they provided tough opposition and it required goals from Nat Walton and Strachan to secure a nervy 2-1 win.

Yet again the final was played at Kennington Oval. The opponents were West Bromwich Albion in what was the first final between two future Football League sides. The Rovers team was Arthur, Turner, Suter, Heyes, McIntyre, Strachan, Douglas, Forrest, Fecitt, Brown and Sowerbutts. The game was on the same day as the Oxford – Cambridge boat race. In 1873 the final had been moved to another time but this time it was played at the usual time of half two in the afternoon (traditional kick- off time then). Although the fans and West Bromwich Albion were only interested in the football, the Rovers players had their intention firmly on seeing the rowing. This they did and it was believed it almost cost them the cup!

The boat race was watched in cold conditions and Rovers barely reached their changing rooms with ten minutes to spare, undressing as they ran into their room. The awful preparation seemed to tell as Rovers battled out a 0-0 draw despite being heavy favourites. They could actually have won the game at the death but Fecitt’s shot went just wide of the post. There was no extra time as Albion didn’t fancy holding Rovers for another half hour and didn’t realise that the Blackburn players were shattered.