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Rovers began the season well. After an opening day defeat by Everton they won four and drew one of their next five games including, for the second season in a row, a 7-1 victory against Burnley. Later on in the season Rovers would win 2-1 at Turf Moor to record their second league ‘double’ over Burnley…in two attempts! Not that Burnley seemed to be too happy with that second game as they had seen a goal of theirs dubiously disallowed. This did seem like typical sour grapes until they discovered that the referee was in actual fact the brother of the Rovers keeper! Crowds continued to improve in this second season and the largest crowd ever seen at Leamington Street saw Rovers lose to the champions Preston North End in a 4-3 thriller. After their good start they lost two games in a row before going on an excellent late autumn run, remaining unbeaten in seven league games, winning six. A poor end to the season put paid to a first title however as they lost four out of the last seven league games (they had only lost three in fifteen before then) meant they had to settle for third place in 1889/90. They did say farewell to league football at Leamington Street however with a crushing 8-0 demolition of Stoke.

Still, they won the one that they thought counted the most. It had been four years since Rovers had been known throughout the land as the legendary cup team and so it was time for them to get back to basics. A difficult first round match against Sunderland (to be a Football League side the season after) was settled 4-2 after extra time in front of a five figure crowd at Leamington Street. Offering less hassle were Grimsby Town (3-0) and Glossop (7-0) before they met Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham for a repeat of the semi final of the previous year. Wolves had a good side which finished fourth that year but a single Jack Southworth goal was all that was required to see Rovers back in the final. They would play Sheffield Wednesday in the first ever FA Cup Final ‘War of the Roses’ meeting.

Once again the Rovers and their fans travelled south in carriages and on trains to London for a Kennington Oval final which attracted over 20,000 customers. The long-time Rovers keeper Herbie Arthur had by then departed into retirement although he would be back for a swansong final season for Rovers and a game against Burnley that would go down as a part of East Lancashire folklore. Arthur had been largely replaced by John Horne. For the game Blackburn were heavy favourites and their team lined up as Horne, James Southworth, Barton, Forbes, Dewar, Lofthouse, Jimmy Forrest (captain), Campbell, Townley, Jack Southworth and Nat Walton. Of those eleven, three had appeared in previous finals for Rovers; Walton, Lofthouse and Forrest. Nine of those in the Rovers line-up were internationals, while the less cosmopolitan Wednesday were all English. Pre-match predictions varied from those believing Wednesday had no chance to those believing the final could be a great leveller. The ‘levellers’ were wrong, it was all Rovers.