BLACKBURN ROVERS boss Mark Hughes has praised Stephane Henchoz for the way he's stepped up to the mark to help ease Rovers' injury crisis.

With Ryan Nelsen ruled out until the New Year with a hamstring injury, and Zurab Khizanishvili still troubled by a groin problem, Henchoz has seized the chance to impress by forming a promising partnership with Andre Ooijer at the back.

In fact, the former Switzerland international, who rejoined the club on a free in September, has now jumped ahead of Andy Todd in the first team pecking order following a series of solid performances.

Hughes is delighted with the way the 32-year-old has risen to the challenge, and he reckons his form is even more impressive when you take into account the fact he arrived at the club without a proper pre-season under his belt.

The Rovers boss said: "I think Stephane has done extremely well. He wasn't fit when he came to the club because he hadn't played for a while, so we had to work with him to get his fitness levels up.

"But his attitude to that day-to-day work has been excellent. He's got a lot of experience, he's won trophies, he knows what it takes to win games, and that experience from now until the end of the season will be invaluable for us.

"He's come to the fore at a good time for us. We've lost Ryan Nelsen, and Zurab is also out at the moment as well, so it's important that we keep him and Andre fit."

Henchoz has appeared alongside Ooijer in four of Rovers' last five matches, and although they have only kept one clean sheet in that time, Hughes insists he's more concerned with the lack of goals at the other end rather than the way his team is defending.

"We've conceded one penalty and a poor free-kick in the last four games, so we could have had four clean sheets.

"I think we obviously need to score more goals because you have to have that capability.

"Defensively, I've been reasonably pleased. But it's the whole package.

"We need to be scoring goals as well as not conceding them."