Big Sam revels in Villa double

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce hailed an "outstanding season" for the club after securing a top 10 Premier League finish with victory over Aston Villa.

Rovers clinched just their third away win of the season with a smash-and-grab 1-0 triumph at Villa Park on Sunday.

Richard Dunne's 84th minute own goal handed Blackburn the spoils, which they arguably deserved following a sensational defensive display.

The win caps a marvellous change of fortunes for Blackburn, who were toiling in the relegation zone when Allardyce took over in December 2008.

Massive

"I think it's remarkable considering what we did in the first 10 games and seeing where we are now sat in the Premier League," he told Sky Sports.

"It's been an outstanding season for us really to re-put together the whole club from staffing to re-motivating, re-organising and re-structuring.

"A huge amount of players have left for big, big fees and we have replaced those players as best as we possibly could. In the end a lot of youth team players made a massive contribution, no bigger than Grant Hanley's contribution today.

"To come and make your debut at Aston Villa and go home with a clean sheet and a 1-0 win just shows you another good prospect that we've got. We've got Phil Jones also who came on.

"Amine Linganzi made his debut, it was more difficult for him in the midfield but we got 45 minutes out of him."

Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson kept the visitors in the game in the first half with a string of fine saves to deny Villa.

Allardyce revealed how a change of tactics at the interval proved the catalyst for the victory.

Big double

"We had to change the system at half-time because while defending well we weren't getting enough support to Jason Roberts," he said.

"We pushed Junior Hoilett further forward and it's paid off because he's scored (involved in) the winner for us."

The victory also sealed Blackburn's first league double over Villa for 11 seasons after Rovers triumphed 2-1 at Ewood Park back in September.

"It's a big achievement to get a double over one of the big boys. Generally you can beat them once but you can rarely beat them twice in one season," added Allardyce.

"I know they turned us over in the Carling Cup and FA Cup but actually in the league we've won with 10 men and we've managed to come here and win 1-0. It's a big, big double over one of the top six clubs."