WEST Brom manager Brian Little felt Damien Duff's goal was more down to poor defending than the Irishman's impudence.

Little had no complaints about the result of the game, believing that Rovers deserved to take their place at Anfield next month.

But he did feel that his defenders, and Daniel Gabbidon in particular, should not have allowed Duff the time to plot the opening goal.

Little said: "It wasn't an issue for me whether Duff meant it for the goal. I felt we should have tackled him.

"We were very tired and stood off him. I was more concerned that we allowed him to do whatever he tried to do _ whether he was trying to pass it across, or whatever."

The West Brom boss also felt his side were lucky to escape the Rovers opening barrage without conceding a goal.

He added: "If Blackburn had scored in the first 10 minutes we might have been well beaten.

"After we came through that spell we had a couple of little attacks and people just started believing in themselves a little. "We have had a lot of things going on and I felt the make-up of the side wasn't the right sort of balance for us.

"We were a little bit nervy and a bit worried about the game beforehand and that showed in the first 10 minutes

"We worked hard but, overall, I felt Blackburn were slightly stronger than us. We hoped we were going to nick it, but never really felt that we were going to."

Tony Parkes was in no doubt about Duff's intentions. He said: "I have not spoken to Damien about it but I thought it was deliberate.

"I don't suppose you look for a gap at the near post with too many keepers. He was obviously looking for the pull back and left a gap at the near post.

"It was very welcome, that was for sure. There was a lot of relief went round the place."

Rovers full back Callum Davidson added: "We enjoyed a lot of possession but made it hard for ourselves. I thought we kept it very tight at the back."

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