BLACKBURN Rovers manager Mark Hughes has admitted he made a mistake in throwing Andre Ooijer into the Premiership before he was ready.

The Dutch World Cup defender made a nightmare start to his career in England, conceding a penalty during a torrid debut against Chelsea in August.

Things then went from bad to worse for the 32-year-old as he scored an own goal against Manchester City in September, and two weeks later he was also responsible for conceding another penalty against Wigan Athletic.

That prompted some to write-off the former PSV Eindhoven star, but he has since started to prove his critics wrong with a string of solid performances, both in the Premiership and the UEFA Cup.

Now Hughes has accepted responsibility for the defender's early season problems, claiming it was wrong to pitch him as early as he did, before he had had sufficient time to settle in at his new club.

"When I threw him in against Chelsea, it was to give him a taste of the Premier League as soon as possible. I thought that was important," said Hughes.

"But I wasn't being fair to him in all honesty because he'd had the World Cup, he'd missed training, he'd been in dispute with his club, and then I threw him in against Chelsea, which was a big ask.

"It was, therefore, down to me the start that he had in the opening few games because he wasn't ready.

"However, I think you've seen in recent weeks the quality I knew I was bringing to the club and I thought he was excellent once again against Fulham."

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