BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes praised his players' staying power after they completed a clean sweep of victories over the festive period at the expense of Portsmouth last night.

First half goals from Morten Gamst Pedersen and Paul Dickov saw Rovers record their third straight Premiership win of Christmas and the New Year.

Before yesterday, Rovers had never previously won three games on the spin in the league during Hughes' 15 months in charge at the club, and the Welshman was quick to pay tribute to his squad for the way they have coped with a punishing schedule.

"We're happy with our return over the Christmas period," said the Rovers chief, whose side is now on a roll after six wins in eight games.

"It's a big ask for all clubs and you possibly saw the effects of the schedule in the second half (last night).

"But we are in a decent position now and we are at a point where we wanted to be at this time in the season.

"There's a lot of hard work ahead of us we are just about to enter a really intense period where we've got big games week in, week out but that's what we want.

"We want big games, and we want to be involved in games of real significance, and that's what we have ahead of us now.

"That's credit to the players for the effort they've put in, not just this season but last year as well, which enabled us to still be in this division."

Rovers fell behind in the third minute when referee Mike Dean awarded a dubious free kick for handball against Ryan Nelsen and Matthew Taylor curled a spectacular opener past Brad Friedel.

But six minutes later, Pedersen equalised with a carbon copy strike before Dickov then grabbed what turned out to be the winner in the 38th minute, earning Rovers their fourth straight victory in all competitions.

That result saw them climb to eighth in the table and Hughes believes they are now well placed to mount a charge for Europe during the second half of the campaign.

"It makes such a difference when you can convert draws into wins," said the Rovers boss.

"That's the difference this season. We are able to get three points more often than the draws we had last season.

"Draws don't allow you to move from where you are and that's what we found last season.

"Last season, we went on something like a 10-game unbeaten run but we still found ourselves in the bottom four and five and that's what happens.

"You need to get wins and not draws and, thankfully, that's what we are doing now."

Dickov added: "The manager has always said he feels we are a top 10 team and if we get in the top 10 then he believes we can push up.

"And the way we are playing at the moment, why not look towards Europe?"