CHRIS Samba has called for his Rovers side to show some “mental toughness” after their worse start to a season at Ewood Park for over 30 years has left them in the Premier League drop zone.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Sunderland leaves Paul Ince’s men with just five points from seven home games, only equalled by Wigan this campaign, and Samba knows the Ewood mentality has to change.

The last time Rovers suffered a worse start to a home campaign was back in 1965/66, when they picked up just four points from seven games on their way to relegation to Division Two.

Their current tally has been equalled just twice since, in 1996/97 and 1975/6, but with just four goals for at Ewood so far this season, the home start to 2008/09 makes for depressing reading.

In comparison, Rovers have enjoyed reasonable success on their travels so far this campaign, with wins at Everton and Newcastle, but Samba knows a killer instinct is needed to resurrect their top flight campaign.

He said: “We have so much quality in the squad, we showed that at Sunderland on Wednesday but on Saturday we only performed for 45 minutes.

“It's not just about having the ability, some of us need to gain the mental quality you need to win matches at this level.

“We need to be able to see games through.

“We look like we are playing better away from home. It’s hard to say what’s going wrong when we play at home.

“You just can’t expect to come out for the second half and play like that. Some of us have to realise the game is 90 minutes.”

Rovers’ Congolese defender’s first half headed opener looked like ending their home hoodoo after rewarding a dominant first half display against Sunderland on Saturday.

But second half strikes from Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse stunned the Ewood faithful to inflict a fourth home defeat of the season on Ince’s men, as many as during the entire last season.

Samba said: “We scored at a good moment and we could have been further ahead of half-time.

“We need to be a bit more ruthless to kill teams off when we’re on top. But we know the second half was not good enough.

“We knew the next goal would be important - we knew we had to try and be the team that got it. The manager told us we had to keep focussed at the back and try to finish them off but everything went wrong in the second half.”

With daunting trips to Tottenham and Portsmouth next up, and a Carling Cup quarter-final at Manchester United, Rovers know a tough few weeks are in the offing.

Samba though remains adamant the tide will turn after claiming there is more than enough quality in the squad to lift Rovers out of the mire.

He said: “When you begin a game like this, when everyone could see the quality of our team, and knowing how we played on Wednesday, you can see why the manager was disappointed.

“That was not good enough. We have to believe things will turn though and a win is just round the corner. We don’t want to keep looking back and thinking about how many points we have been wasting.

“We’re on a poor run and we have to stop it quickly.”