When you have defied a bitterly cold Lancashire evening and a swine flu scare to attend a Carling Cup tie, the least you deserve is to be entertained, and the 8,419 hardy souls present at Ewood Park last night could not complain on that score.

Seven goals, two penalties and a sending-off were the edited highlights. Throw in one of the misses of this or any other season and a chant to live long in the memory — “Five-two and we’ve got the flu” — and it is hard to imagine anyone asking for more.

David Dunn had been one of a trio of Blackburn Rovers players suspected to be suffering from the swine flu virus before this tie, but his presence on the substitutes’ bench was a clear indication of his recovery as Sam Allardyce, the manager, made seven changes to the side dispatched by Chelsea at the weekend. The selection was vindicated by a strong first-half performance that enabled Blackburn to go in a goal and a man to the good at the interval.

Morten Gamst Pedersen opened the scoring with a sumptuous, left-footed free kick and was involved in the incident shortly before half-time that gave Blackburn their edge in scoreline and personnel. Peterborough, languishing in 21st place in the Coca-Cola Championship after successive promotions, had managed to level matters courtesy of Chris Whelpdale’s well-taken header, but parity was shortlived because Steven Reid tucked away a penalty after Pedersen was brought down by Joe Lewis, the goalkeeper, who was dismissed.

“That was the turning point,” Darren Ferguson, the manager, said, adding that he felt Anthony Taylor, the referee, had produced his red card with undue haste. Having equalised Pedersen’s opening goal through Chris Whelpdale’s header and shown a desire to take the game to their more illustrious opponents, the dismissal was cruel on the Coca-Cola Championship side but, given the opportunity to review the incident, Ferguson will surely acknowledge that Lewis had denied the Norwegian winger a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Peterborough’s determination to play the stylish brand of football that has served them so well under Ferguson was not diminished by their plight. If anything, it added to the feeling that they had nothing to lose against more illustrious opponents and their enterprising attitude was rewarded when George Boyd equalised with a scorching drive.

Pedersen blotted his copybook by missing an open goal from three yards — a lapse in concentration the only possible reason — but his blushes were spared by Míchel Salgado, who restored Blackburn’s lead immediately afterwards. With that strike, Peterborough’s resistance was broken and Benni McCarthy, with a neat finish, and Nikola Kalinic, from the penalty spot, made sure of Blackburn’s progress.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): J Brown — M Salgado, P Jones, G Givet (sub: R Nelsen, 59min), M Olsson — J Hoilett, B Emerton (sub: K Andrews, 77), S Reid (sub: D Dunn, 69), M G Pedersen — B McCarthy, N Kalinic. Substitutes not used: P Robinson, L Jacobsen, J Roberts, E van Heerden. Booked: Givet.

Peterborough United (4-4-2): J Lewis — C Lee (sub: R Martin, 36), K Pearce, C Morgan, T Rowe (sub: J Day, 76) — C Whelpdale, T Diagouraga, L Frecklington, G Boyd — A Mclean, S Batt (sub: J McKeown, 44). Substitutes not used: P Coutts, D Keates, D Green, N Koranteng. Sent off: Lewis.

Referee: A Taylor.

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