By John May BBC Sport Online

Peaches and Herb's biggest hit might have been written with Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole in mind.

Just like the 70s soul duo, the former Old Trafford strike pair are Re-United following Yorke's move to Blackburn.

Rovers' boss Graeme Souness is taking something of a gamble that the striking soul brothers will not only re-unite but re-ignite the form that took them to the top with Manchester United.

Blackburn sign Yorke

Yorke was Manchester United's record signing when they paid Aston Villa �12.6m for the Trinidad striker in August 1998 to pair him up with Cole.

From the first note, the pair made sweet music together.

They contributed 53 goals in their first season in tandem as Manchester United marched to a European Champions League, Premiership and FA Cup treble.

While goals were their common denominator, they were different personalities.

The original Reunited pair, Peaches and Herb

Cole was the brooding, menacing contrast to Yorke's effervescent, ever-present mile-wide smile.

But possibly nowhere else is the pressure greater for strikers to deliver than at Old Trafford where past deeds count for little.

Neither Cole nor Yorke were allowed to rest on the laurels they had earned in the red colours.

Cole became the highest scoring Englishman in European club football, beating Bobby Charlton and Martin Chivers, who both totalled 22.

Yorke also wrote himself into the Old Trafford annals by equalling the record held by Charlton and George Best of scoring in six successive games.

But the addition of Ruud van Nistelrooy boomed out a message to the Old Trafford strike collective.

It was a message reinforced, perhaps, by the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson was prepared to wait a year for the Dutchman following a serious knee injury.

Doomed men, they say, do not hear the bell that tolls for them, and van Nistelrooy's electric first season, plus the consistent goalscoring of Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer meant that Cole and Yorke were no longer the chosen pair.

Yorke's cause was not helped by criticisms over his private life and as the goals dried up for Cole and Yorke, so did Sir Alex Ferguson's confidence in them as a pair, and as individuals.

Cole was first to go, with Manchester United making a �2m profit on a striker they signed from Newcastle for �6m six years earlier.

His record of 124 goals in 234 games stood comparison with any Old Trafford striker, but it cut little ice with Ferguson.

Reunited, and hoping to make sweet goalscoring music

Cole's departure left Yorke whining, if not pining for his partner as it became clear he was increasingly becoming a bit-player behind the van Nistelrooy-Solskjaer axis.

The arrival of Diego Forlan in January 2001 for �7.5m would only have reinforced to Yorke that his days were numbered.

The question was not 'if' Yorke would go, but where and when.

He was strongly linked to both Fulham and Middlesbrough, before Blackburn boss Souness stepped in.

The fee of �2m - rising to �2.6m - means Manchester United took a �10m drop on Yorke who scored 66 goals in 152 appearances at Old Trafford.

Now, Souness is pinning his hopes on Cole and Yorke reliving their glories.

But as any soul duo may confirm, love is not always better the second time around.