BOLTON boss Sam Allardyce was entitled to shout the odds after his team comfortably won the big derby battle.

And, as his Rovers counterpart Tony Parkes readily acknowledged, Saturday's Reebok rout was a complete reversal of what had happened when the teams first clashed at Ewood in December, Bolton going down by a similar score.

"We got a very good football match in difficult conditions and, when it's that good, you are always glad you are on the right end of the result," said Allardyce, whose touchline histrionics led to him being warned by the referee in a frantic second half.

"It was a superb overall performance, they wore that white shirt with pride and that's all you can ask for.

"The first half was all ours and in the second half we had to defend for 15-20 minutes when we were under pressure.

"But we defended very well. The all-important thing at some times in a game is to defend correctly and the amount of pressure Blackburn put on us was something we had to stand up to and we did.

"If we had to pick a perfect time to score a third goal that was it to really kill the spirit of Blackburn and for us to play the game out very well."

Allardyce understandably felt his team had won all the crucial contests.

"The midfield area is a battle that has to be won and we won it. We also had a lot of good movement up front," he said.

"When you consider the quality of players Blackburn had in their side and on the bench it really shows what an outstanding victory it was.

"We had a score to settle because of what happened on their patch. It was a big week for us and these three points were vital. This performance was very good for us for long periods.

"I hope this was a turning point for us."

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