Jesse Lingard did a jig of delight in front of six thousand travelling Nottingham Forest fans after his free-kick helped the Premier League club reach their first League Cup quarter-final since 1994.
Dominant Forest led through an early penalty from Brennan Johnson before conceding an equaliser on the stroke of half-time when Blackburn brothers Adam and Scott Wharton combined against the run of play.
But Lingard, who also scored in the previous round against Tottenham, restored the visitor’s advantage with a low strike just outside the box from a set-piece he won himself.
His shot from a little tap by Neco Williams took two deflections to wrongfoot goalkeeper Aynsley Pears into the corner though Forest legend Roy Keane would have hated the celebration as Lingard milked his moment with a vigorous dance in front of the large bank of away supporters.
Taiwo Awoniyi and Johnson again wrapped up the win near the end with deserved third and fourth goals for the visitors.
Forest boss Steve Cooper named a strong team after nearly six weeks of inactivity in contrast to Championship promotion hopefuls Blackburn who made 11 changes from their weekend win at Norwich.
It wasn’t surprising therefore that Forest looked the more cohesive outfit, having 16 shots at goal in the first-half alone.
Pears excelled himself with fine stops from Taiwo Awoniyi, Orel Mangala and Johnson but was powerless to stop the Wales World Cup striker from converting a spot-kick after 13 minutes.
Johnson won the award himself, his pace forcing Scott Wharton into a trip, and then had the confidence to rattle it home despite missing one against Wolves in October.
Rovers had offered virtually nothing until 18-year-old Adam Wharton swung in a free-kick approaching the interval and is older sibling rose unchallenged to flash a header past Dean Henderson.
Cooper would have been dismayed at being pegged back but his side showed the right attitude to bounce back and retake the lead.
Once ahead, he sent on Lewis O’Brien to shore up the midfield while the excellent Johnson showed no lasting effects from a bad tackle by Jake Garrett that left him a heap as he broke through on goal.
Forest won the League Cup four times under Brian Clough and the size of their support meant kick off had to be delayed 15 minutes because of motorway problems.
Lingard and Johnson were again denied by Pears as Forest looked for a deserved third goal. It eventually came when Awoniyi ran through and slipped a low finish into the corner with 10 minutes left.
Strangely, Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson delayed the introduction of his star striker Ben Brereton Diaz until the final two minutes even though he’d changed the tie in the previous round against West Ham.
He was on the pitch as Johnson raced through in injury-time and fired a right-foot shot away from Pears.