LAST season's Carling Opta Premiership statistics put Rovers' new man Egil Ostenstad head and shoulders above the player he replaces, Kevin Davies - and not simply in the amount of time they spent on the pitch, writes PETER WHITE.

In goal terms alone, Ostenstad's seven strikes from 2,359 minutes of action beats Davies's single effort from 1,040 minutes hands down.

Elsewhere, the percentages favour the established Norwegian international against the erstwhile England under-21 player.

Ostenstad boasted 26 on-target shots to 13 by Davies, though the latter enjoyed two goal assists to one by his replacement.

Pass and cross completion rates, however, show the new Ewood man to be far superior - a 71 per cent success rate with his passing (61 per cent for Davies) and 22 per cent (0 per cent) on crossing.

Dribble success also favours Ostenstad slightly at 61 per cent (59 per cent), so too do tackles won at 44 per cent (40 per cent).

But, while the Norwegian picked up only one yellow card last season against five for his predecessor, one area where he may need to work for an improvement is offsides.

Ostenstad was flagged offside no less than 61 (12) times.

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