BRIAN Kidd paid tribute to Per Frandsen's superb debut for Blackburn Rovers after the Dane's midweek move from Bolton to Ewood.

The midfielder quickly established himself as a favourite with the fans in a performance that was only lacking a goal.

And he would have had that too but for the slightest of touches from a defender's head, deflecting his powerful second-half shot on to the crossbar.

"I thought the lad was smashing technically and his awareness was first class," said the Rovers boss.

"It was there for all to see.

"He's a technician and he picked his passes. Any young player at our club should look at Per Frandsen and see what to do. He had everything sorted even before he received the ball.

"I thought it was a smashing debut but there were a lot of good performances, 'Carso' complemented him well and got a goal. The pleasing thing as well was that we did show a bit of patience early on which we had to do."

Walsall boss Ray Graydon likened Rovers to Sunderland, who ran away with the division last season, because of their resources.

"They have a squad big enough to cause anyone problems, just like Sunderland," he said. "I came and watched them in midweek and I think there were only two players in the side today who started (against Portsmouth).

"I've only got 16 fit players at the moment but they are a good bunch of lads who are sticking together and I think our supporters are realising how difficult a task we have.

"We are not a big club, we are a small club.

"The one thing I was disappointed about in the first half was that my midfield players, who can pass the ball, didn't. If we had just kept the ball a bit better we could maybe have come out of it at 0-0."

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