BRAD Friedel today praised Graeme Souness and the board for keeping their cool during Rovers' worst ever run in the Premiership.

Monday night's 2-1 victory over Everton at Ewood saw Rovers climb out of the bottom three following a depressing sequence of five straight defeats.

And Friedel believes both Souness and the club deserve great credit for refusing to panic during a run which saw the club win only once in 13 outings.

"I said it last year when things were going really well, you can't get too caught up in the positives and you can't get too caught up in the negatives," said Friedel.

"You've got to try and stay on an even keel and, to the club's great credit, they've done that.

"We've not been playing that badly, which is why you haven't seen any panicky statements coming from the club, or any panicky statements coming from the manager.

"It's been little things which have seen us losing because those little things are why you win and lose games.

"But we finally got some luck on Monday night and we also played some good football as well, which is what you need in situations like this.

"Having said that, this is only one win and we've now got Manchester United next but it feels very, very nice to go into this two week break with a win under our belts and out of the bottom three."

The pressure had been mounting on Souness and his players in the build up to Monday night's match following a run of eight games without a win.

But two goals from Markus Babbel and Dwight Yorke inside the opening 13 minutes did much to ease the tension.

And Friedel believes one of the main reasons why the players played with a greater freedom was down to the short break they had at Gleneagles in Scotland last week.

"Over the last three years, every time we've had a little break away, we've always come back with a little bit of a run, so let's hope we can keep this going now," said the United States number one.

"I thought the first half was really, really good. We put them on the back foot and forced them into making changes at half time, which is something that you like."

"They then got themselves back into it but all credit to us, we didn't fold at all and actually giving away the goal in a strange sense helped us out because it didn't let us become complacent."

Now Rovers can prepare for next week's clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford with renewed confidence.

The players gave a good account of themselves in their four meetings with the champions last season, winning 1-0 in the Premiership at Ewood then obtaining a 1-1 draw from their Worthington Cup semi-final first leg at Old Trafford, although they were eventually knocked out on aggregate.

"Over the last few years, we've played really, really well against the top sides so we just have to let our head down and try and play the best we can and get a result," added Friedel.

Meanwhile, Craig Short stepped up his comeback plans in the reserves' 3-0 win at Wolves last night.

Short came through 75 minutes unscathed and on-loan keeper Peter Enckelman also seized the chance to impress with a string of smart saves.