Leeds United 3-1 Blackburn Rovers

	Henning Berg slides in between Mark Viduka and Alan Smith to clear (LaurenceGriffiths/Allsport)

While England striker Fowler will take nothing for granted, despite his outstanding record at Leeds, Tord Grip is sure to lodge another positive report in Sven Goran Eriksson's bulging dossier on the £11million goalscorer.

Two trademark strikes in the space of three first-half minutes took his haul for David O'Leary to 11 in 17 matches since being prised from Anfield in December and broke Blackburn's spirit.

Coupled with a smart second-half goal from Harry Kewell, after Matt Jansen had pulled one back for sorry Blackburn, Fowler's double kept alive O'Leary's bid to catch Newcastle - five points ahead - and steal the last Champions League berth.

It should also be more than enough to confirm Fowler's call-up for next week's England friendly with Italy after he was omitted from Eriksson's last squad to allow the coach a look at his World Cup outsiders.

Blackburn manager Souness was one of the least surprised men in the stadium when his former Liverpool protege took the game by the scruff of the neck before most players had settled into their groove.

Having given Fowler his debut almost a decade ago during his spell in charge at Anfield, Souness is a paid-up member of the Robbie Appreciation Society, to the extent that Rovers made a vain 11th-hour bid to pip Leeds to his signature.

If he had not been fuming over the way his Worthington Cup winners wilted, Souness would surely have paused for a few words of praise and an endorsement for Fowler. But instead he complained: 'That's the easiest three points Leeds will get all year - we didn't turn up.

'Whether it's the Premiership or any other league, you have got to match your opponents for effort and aggression, and we didn't. I'm deeply disappointed given the position we are in.'

Souness' bitter verdict that Leeds had turned up at 2pm and his own team at a quarter past was not far off the mark. Rarely can even the prolific Fowler have opened a game with such a venomous burst.

His opening goal, with five minutes on the clock, owed something to Turkish midfielder Tugay, who gave away the ball and had the double misfortune to see it then bounce in Fowler's direction.

The rest was pure class as Fowler raced forward past Hakan Unsal and then slotted the ball confidently underneath his former Liverpool team-mate Brad Friedel.

Three minutes later, Leeds themselves carved out the next chance. Ian Harte's pass found Alan Smith and the striker, standing in wide on the right for suspended Lee Bowyer, crossed precisely for Fowler to stab the ball home.

Unfortunately for the faithful who had foregone their Sunday lunch, the perfect appetiser Leeds served up was a false indication of a feast and O'Leary admitted they had 'made hard work' of the tough old roast beef that followed.

Mark Viduka might have wrapped things up early in the second half with a cheeky effort that Friedel saved well, but Jansen gave Rovers hope with a cool, 49th-minute finish after Jonathan Woodgate, back after six weeks out through injury, blotted his return with a weak backpass.

Blackburn were finally crushed after 71 minutes when Kewell rewarded substitute Robbie Keane's superb cross-field pass with a precision finish off the far post.

O'Leary, refusing to think about anything other than fourth place, said: 'Robbie is a wonderful goalscorer and technically a very good player, a very intelligent player - but I couldn't care less about him going to the World Cup.