ANOTHER brilliant performance by Blackburn Rovers is buying time in the transfer market for manager Roy Hodgson, who is now being linked with Parma's Hernan Crespo.

But the team's success is also making it tough for the Ewood boss to improve on what he has already got as they challenge for Premiership honours.

Hat-trick hero Kevin Gallacher inspired Rovers in a five-star display against Aston Villa on Saturday and both he and Chris Sutton are top contenders for the League's golden boot award.

Yet it is no secret Hodgson is still looking to supplement his strike force.

And, while Lazio's Pier Luigi Casiraghi apparently remains unavailable, Argentine forward Crespo is expected to leave Parma for around £4.5 million following the signing of Tino Asprilla.

Several clubs are reported to be interested, with national newspaper specualtion naming Rovers as one. Interestingly, Kenny Dalglish was in Italy to watch last night's game between Parma and Milan.

Crespo played for an hour before being substituted.

Our Italian sources said today that Parma had confirmed they have received a bid but will not name the club.

With Hodgson's obvious contacts and knowledge of Serie A, no Italian connections can be overlooked. Delighted with his team's five-star show against Villa, he stressed that it was tough to come up with transfer targets.

And he also made it plain that he would not be pushed into making signings for the sake of it.

He seems happy with what he has got, providing Rovers stay relatively free from injuries and suspensions.

But he is also aware that a good time to strengthen is when the side is doing well.

"I am getting tired of saying I don't want to sign players who aren't good enough - ie better or at least every bit as good as the ones we have got," he said.

"And I don't know where those players are at the moment.

"If and when a player becomes available and is a possibility for Blackburn Rovers, at a price and a salary that we think is correct for the level of player, we will get in and do it.

"So if anybody wants to sell me their best players we will in the market.

"But top clubs in England have a tendency to want to keep their best players.

"Like all teams, you can get a spate of injuries and suspensions.

"But you can't go out and sign top-quality players until such a day comes.

"If the day came when we found ourselves strapped, no doubt we would look closely into the market.

"We are not strapped at the moment, so we can afford to be more relaxed.

"But we are aware of the fact that, sometimes, the time to improve your team is when things are going well and not necessarily to wait until the bad days come." Despite reports, Hodgson repeated he had heard nothing from Lazio.

"As far as I know, Casiraghi will be at Lazio, certainly until the end of the year," he said.

On Saturday's five-goal romp he said: "I thought there were some outstanding performances.

"Tim Sherwood had a fine game and I don't think Chris Sutton missed a ball up front.

"I can't really remember him making a technical error during the 90 minutes.

"The two full backs went very close to being faultless.

"We are also pleased that Kevin will get his share of the credit."

Gallacher himself said: "To get three goals is a bit special but the team performance was fantastic all the way through."

Luke Staton, Keith Brown and Damien Johnson scored in Rovers A team's 3-1 win at Preston. Paddy Connolly and Steve Hawe were the B team scorers in a 2-0 win over Wigan.

QPR beat Liverpool 2-1 and now host Rovers in the next round of the FA Youth Cup.

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