Andy Carroll struck a dramatic injury-time winner as 10-man Liverpool beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at Ewood Park in a rollercoaster English Premier League clash on Tuesday.

Liverpool looked to be cruising to victory after goals from Maxi Rodriguez fired them into a 2-0 lead early on.

But a red card for goalkeeper Alexander Doni – himself filling in for the suspended Pepe Reina – changed the complexion of the game and thrust third-choice goalkeeper Brad Jones into the limelight.

Jones promptly announced his entrance by saving Ayegbeni Yakubu’s spot-kick but Rovers hauled themselves back into the contest and eventually drew level.

Yakubu made amends for his penalty miss to head home for 2-1 and then levelled from the penalty spot in the second half to make it 2-2 and give Rovers hope of pulling clear of the relegation zone.

However Carroll was to have the final word with his header a minute into stoppage time to give Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, another Ewood Park occasion to put in his memory bank.

It will always be a special ground for Dalglish after winning the Championship while in charge of Blackburn in 1995.

Liverpool’s stunning start came despite a much-changed side with Dalglish clearly eyeing this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton.

Another regular missing was Pepe Reina, serving the second game of his three-match suspension to give a rare opportunity to Brazilian Doni.

Reina’s red card at Newcastle had presented Doni with the chance to play in Saturday’s semi-final – but his Wembley dream was shattered after just 25 minutes after he brought down Junior Hoilett.

It looked certain to earn Blackburn a valuable point and they were the more inventive team in the closing stages, but their hopes of moving out of the bottom three were destroyed by Carroll’s dramatic late winner.