In a week which has seen Big Sam talk himself up for some of Europe's biggest jobs, it was almost inevitable that Allardyce would stamp his philosophy and personality all over yesterday's action at Ewood. However, it is doubtful that the Rovers boss will send the DVD of this game to Europe's elite to back up his claims.

Rovers' robust and uncompromising style upset Fulham, Mark Schwarzer and Mark Hughes from the first whistle. Ironically, the former Rovers supremo briefly adopted a similar style of play when he arrived at the club in 2004 but he is correct that referee Anthony Taylor somehow missed Diouf 's(senior) altercation with his goalkeeper.

It was not a good day at the office for the young Manchester official. Inexplicably he failed to spot Schwarzer handle the ball outside the area with himself standing a matter of yards away. A red card with barely 10 minutes played would have certainly produced a different result. Overall however, Rovers were average at best and it is fair to say that the team from the banks of the Thames were the better side after the break.

It is disappointing that Rovers did not produce a barnstorming performance given that many potential 'new' supporters were in attendance due to the club's ticketing initiatives. Despite having a season ticket, I fully support the reduction in match day prices for fixtures that will quite clearly fail to encourage the pay-on-the-day patron to part with their hard earned cash.

Next stop are our cup cousins Villa. It is incredible that we face them for the third time in the space of 9 months in cup competitions. I hope Sam fields a strong side in a competition that does allow for the less fashionable sides to progress and have the Wembley arch in their sights. And then we are all off to the seaside for arguably the highlight of this season's awayday excursions.

Before Big Sam starts dreaming of masterminding a Madrid victory in Barcelona, let's just beat Blackpool!