BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness breathed a huge sigh of relief after Rovers moved within striking distance of second spot following last night's nailbiting win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Rovers appeared to be cruising to another vital victory after a first half double from David Dunn and a rare strike from Martin Taylor saw the visitors take command in the Capital.

But 10-man Palace mounted a stirring second half fightback to put the wind up Souness and his troops before the men from Ewood emerged with three priceless points thanks to a hard-fought 3-2 win.

"In the first half, we mullered them," said Souness.

"We passed it around, caused them all sorts of problems, and really should have had more than three goals to show for our first half domination.

"But, in the second half, we didn't play at all.

"So what should have been an easy second 45 minutes, turned out to be a very difficult one.

"There's two ways to look at that. For our part, we didn't get the ball down and pass it.

"But Crystal Palace will say they showed real character and commitment to come back in the way they did.

"So somewhere in between those two opinions lies the truth.

"This was always going to be a very hard game for us. They were unbeaten in 12 games.

"But 13 happens to be my lucky number and I felt, with the way we played last Sunday and it being 13, we always had a chance." Rovers went into today just three points behind second-placed Bolton thanks to back-to-back away wins.

And, despite last night's poor second half performance, Souness believes his team are improving all the time.

"Our football has been very good in the last few months and I feel we should have more points in the bag," said Souness.

"But I've got to be happy with the situation we are in at the moment.

"There's still a hell of a lot of football to be played.

"But I feel we are improving all the time, apart from the second 45 minutes here.

"Realistically, Fulham are gone but the target for ourselves, and maybe 10 other teams as well, including Palace, is that second spot."

Last night's victory wasn't without its talking points as some Palace players claimed Fan Zhiyi was harshly sent off.

Marcus Bent also had a late 'goal' disallowed when referee Phil Jolis adjudged his 18 yard blockbuster had not bounced behind the line.

"I think the way to judge that was to look at the reaction of the Palace players. The way they reacted told its own story," said Souness.

"And, as for the penalty, I've never seen a more obvious one. It was certainly a sending off because he was the last man.

"As the home team, Palace can say they feel hard done to because the referee gave a penalty and sent their man off.

"But I felt he went someway to evening that up in the second half with some of the decisions he dished out.

"He was under pressure from their bench and the crowd to make certain decisions in the second half and I think he did make them in their favour." Now Rovers face successive home games against Birmingham City and Crewe.

And Souness can afford to enjoy Christmas with his family with six points already in the bank after two tough away trips.

"I've got a son who's 16 months old so it's the first Christmas that he can maybe understand that it's a special day," said Souness.

"So he can sit and watch his dad have a big bottle of red wine all to himself."