Ince praises Rovers defence

Ince: Solid defence

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Blackburn manager Paul Ince admits he put aside the troubles at Newcastle before their 2-1 at St James' Park on Saturday.

First half goals from Roque Santa Cruz and Christopher Samba gave Rovers their third successive win in all competitions.

Ince made a number of changes for the game but concedes that competition for places is only going to make them stronger.

"I felt that Hull came here and played 4-5-1 and it worked so I thought we'd adopt the same approach," said Ince.

"I'm disappointed we had to leave players out but we've got healthy competition now.

Competition

"It was important to us to not even think about what's being going on at Newcastle on or off the pitch.

"We had a job to do, we had to focus on what we had to do, and we did that in the first 45 minutes.

"It's always hard because our fans were stuck right at the back, at the top, and all you can see is black and white.

"But we dug in there and our fans were absolutely fantastic. It's a good journey back home for them."

Newcastle gave themselves a chance of getting back into the game when Michael Owen scored from the penalty spot shortly after the restart.

Disappointed

The Magpie's were denied a penalty just minutes earlier when Martin Olsson was adjudged to have not handballed in the box.

Ince revealed his disappointment with the penalty but is pleased with his side's defending.

"We were disappointed with the penalty but sometimes when you're in front of 45,000 fans you don't get that luck," added Ince.

"We had our backs to the wall and they put a lot of pressure on us. We conceded the one goal in seven days and that was a penalty so it shows how well we're defending."