Paul Ince made a winning return to the Moss Rose tonight for his first game in charge of Premier League Blackburn.

Goals from David Dunn and Paul Gallagher either side of half time won the game for the Lancashire side, but Macc were rarely outclassed.

Ince fielded ten internationals in his starting line-up while the home side was unchanged from the victory over Bradford Park Avenue.

Paul Ince - All smiles as he began his Blackburn career with a victory

Matt Derbyshire had the first effort on goal, forcing a decent save from Jonathon Brain with a 25 yard half volley and at the other end Francis Green looked to bag his third goal in as many friendlies but his attempted lob was well off target.

The Silkmen looked dangerous from set pieces, with sought after keeper Brad Friedel firstly fumbling Ahmed Deen's free kick and then backpeddling to tip Sean Hessey's long ball into the box over the bar.

On 26 minutes Christopher Samba connected with a Morten Gamst Pedersen free kick from the left and in a crowded area his effort flew just past the post.

A mazy Danny Thomas run ended with a ball out to Green which was just over-hit, forcing the forward wide but he managed to pick out Terry Dunfield lurking on the edge of the box who drilled a low effort at Friedel.

The visitors almost went ahead on 36 minutes when a Pedersen cross was only headed away by Deen to Benni McCarthy on the edge of the box and after a smart turn he thundered an effort against the outside of the post.

The goal came three minutes before the break when Dunn collected a ball into his feet and after beating two men on the edge of the area he calmly rolled a low shot past Brain into the bottom corner.

Blackburn changed their entire team at the break, and the second string doubled the lead under 30 seconds after the restart.Paul Gallagher's header from a Tony Kane cross from the right should have been easily dealt with by Brain but he fumbled the ball into the top corner to the delight of the visiting fans behind his goal.

The Silkmen pulled one back just minutes later when Bell's ball down the right channel wasn't cut out by the Rovers left back and Izak Reid flashed a cross into the box for Martin Gritton to tap in from close range.

Martin Gritton - Scored from close range

Soon after the goal Keith Alexander started to give more of his squad a run out as Thomas, Gritton, Deen, Green, Dunfield and Bell were replaced by Evans, Millar, Hadfield, Harvey, Yeo and Jennings.

Gallagher forced a low save from Brain, going down to his left to parry his curling free kick away and Rovers had strong claims for a penalty waved away with 20 minutes to go when Aaron Doran was played through and Brain looked to have brought him down as he came out.

John Rooney blazed an ambitious effort over when a clever flick by Hadfield gave him some space in the box and with time running out Evans missed Macc's final opportunity, skewing into the side netting when he possibly should have crossed from the left.

Andy Brinkhurst