Bakayoko on the ball

Ibrahima Bakayoko rediscovered his scoring touch to fire Everton to a priceless victory and send injury-ravaged Blackburn a step further along the road to relegation. Bakayoko struck either side of half-time as Everton bounced back after Ashley Ward had put the hosts in front after just 94 seconds.

The win means Everton are five points clear of the drop zone going into their final 10 games of the season - starting with Saturday's home clash with title-chasing Arsenal.

For Blackburn the picture is bleaker, the fine run of results which followed the appointment of Brian Kidd as manager now forgotten after three straight league defeats. They are in 18th place and face a titanic scrap away to fellow strugglers Coventry at the weekend.

This win will have done much to calm nerves in the blue half of Merseyside and their noisy 5,000 fans left Ewood Park singing Bakayoko's praises. He has struggled to settle since Everton manager Walter Smith signed him from Montpellier for £4.5 million in October.

Bakayoko came up trumps after Ward had stunned Everton, dumped out of the FA Cup by Newcastle on Sunday, inside two minutes. Ward beat Michael Ball to Jason Wilcox's left-wing cross and bundled the ball home despite the best efforts of the England Under-21 defender and goalkeeper Thomas Myhre.

Everton quickly came to life and John Filan had already denied Bakayoko when the striker equalised on 15 minutes. Don Hutchison's corner was flicked on by David Weir and Bakayoko had the simple task of nodding home from two yards at the back post.

The visitors always looked capable of taking the lead and they did so after 65 minutes. Hutchison's through pass caught Blackburn's defence standing and after steadying himself, Bakayoko clipped the ball beyond Filan and inside the far post.

He wasted the chance to complete his hat-trick shortly afterwards but, a Michael Branch shot aside, it was Rovers who dominated the final 20 minutes. Kevin Davies was involved in two penalty appeals, first for handball against Craig Short and then when the striker went down under the challenge of Richard Dunne.

Blackburn: Filan, Davidson, Peacock, Henchoz, Davies (Jansen 80), Wilcox, Duff, Johnson, Croft (Marcolin 50), Ward, McAteer. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Coughlan, Williams. Booked: Johnson. Goals: Ward 2.

Everton: Myhre, Ball, Unsworth, Barmby (Jevons 38), Hutchison, Short, Materazzi, Weir, Bakayoko (Grant 86), Dunne, O'Kane (Branch 71). Subs Not Used: Jeffers, Simonsen. Booked: Dunne. Goals: Bakayoko 15, 65. Att: 27,219.

Referee: P Alcock (Halstead).