JUBILANT Blackburn manager Mark Hughes paid a glowing tribute to Paul Dickov after the diminutive striker was the inspiration behind Rovers' 2-0 victory at Fulham.

Dickov was quite magnificent up front and the Scotland international capped another tigerish display with the goal that secured Rovers' first away win of the season.

The former Leicester City hit-man is now out on his own as the club's leading scorer after taking his tally for the season to five.

But it's the 32-year-old's all round contribution to the team that has so impressed his new manager.

"Paul has been excellent since I've been at the football club," said Hughes.

"He's whole-hearted, he gives everything he's got, he's a pain in the backside to opposing defenders, he makes a nuisance of himself and, allied to all those qualities, he's a decent player as well.

"So he's quite a package at the moment and he's made an impact for us in every game he has played."

Dickov has been in red-hot scoring form over the last couple of weeks and he bagged his third goal in four games at Craven Cottage when he coolly converted a 77th minute penalty to put the seal on a 2-0 win.

Before that, Paul Gallagher had fired Rovers into a 10th minute lead, courtesy of his second goal in as many games.

Rovers' first away victory in seven months rarely looked in doubt from that point on as the visitors dominated Fulham in all areas of the park.

"It was a very pleasing performance," said Hughes.

"From start to finish, our play was very positive and defensively we were a lot, lot better.

"That helped us to have a platform from which we could build a great performance.

"For all the good things that came out of the performance against Birmingham last week, we were disappointed with the way we defended so we tried to address things that were highlighted in that game and we were a lot better for it.

"I thought some of our inter-passing and the way we broke quickly was great.

"We rode our luck at one stage when Brad made a fantastic save at a crucial time for us.

"But, overall, the only criticism I have of the performance is that we didn't win by more."

Hughes was particularly pleased with the fitness levels of his players, who looked stronger and quicker than their Fulham counterparts over the course of the 90 minutes.

When the Welshman succeeded Graeme Souness in the middle of September, one of the first things he noticed about the players he inherited was they didn't look fit enough.

However, over the last two months, Hughes and his backroom staff have sought to address that problem on the training ground and all their hours of hard work are now beginning to pay off.

"When I took over, I just felt the players weren't at the level they needed to be to compete and have the confidence to last 90 minutes," said Hughes.

"I think they knew they were good players but possibly in the past they didn't have the confidence in the physical stakes to enable them to work hard for 90 minutes.

"But now they know they can do that and as a result, confidence levels are rising."

Rovers looked anything but a team who had started the day propping up the rest of the Premiership as they tore into Fulham from the opening whistle.

And had the finishing matched the quality of the approach play then the margin of victory would have been more emphatic.

Nevertheless, Hughes was delighted with the result and he now hopes it will act as a launch pad for the rest of the season.

"We haven't been beaten in five games now and that's not the form of a team that is struggling at the wrong end of the table," said the Rovers boss.

"We are playing well. In the previous four games, we possibly didn't get the rewards that our efforts deserved but today we did."