BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes is hoping to bring the crowds flocking back to Ewood Park after successfully transforming Rovers into one of the most entertaining sides in the Premier League.

In-form Rovers sent shockwaves reverberating through the rest of the Premiership when they roared to a 4-1 home win at the expense of Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

That victory was Rovers' fifth on the bounce at Ewood, and their biggest at home in the league since the 5-1 demolition of Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening day of the 2003/2004 season.

In the last six weeks, Huddersfield, West Brom, Birmingham, Leeds and now Charlton have all left Ewood empty-handed, prompting talk of a possible push for Europe during the second half of the season.

Hughes has certainly been encouraged by recent home performances and he believes his players are now beginning to shed their negative image in the national Press, which stems back to February's stormy encounter with Chelsea.

But the people he's more concerned about winning over are those fans who have stopped attending Ewood on matchdays, and he hopes the style with which Rovers have been playing recently will prove enough to entice some of the stayaways to return.

"It's important that we keep winning at home, especially as we are going into a period of games against the so-called bigger teams," said Hughes.

"I hope everyone has enjoyed the home performances up to this point and maybe we'll get a few more through the door (as a result).

"It's important that we play well at Ewood then, hopefully, through word of mouth, people will want to come and see us play.

"I think everyone who was there (on Saturday) really enjoyed themselves."

Saturday's 'gate' of 17,691 against Charlton was an indicator of just how dramatically attendances have plummeted at Ewood.

When the Addicks visited Rovers in April 2003 that game attracted a crowd of 27,506, which is nearly 10,000 more than was there at the weekend.

Various arguments have been raised as possible reasons for the slump, from the cost of tickets to varying kick-off times, a problem created by the increased number of matches being screened live on television.

Poor home form has also been a major factor; before this season, Rovers had won just 10 home games in the Premiership in the previous two years.

But Hughes has worked hard to address that particular problem and five straight wins on the bounce - a sequence in which Rovers have scored 14 goals and conceded just two - has done much to re-establish Ewood as a fortress to be feared.

"That was the aim at the beginning of the season," said the Rovers boss.

"We didn't win enough home games last season and that put us under pressure, so we were mindful of that.

"We wanted to improve that and we've nearly won as many home games at this point than we did in the whole of last season.

"Now we've got to continue that. When teams come here, I think they appreciate it's going to be a difficult day in this office so they know they will have to play well to get points from us."