In the days leading up to last week's big cup games I'd refused to contemplate the possibility of our cup adventures being over by 5 o'clock on Saturday.

Hurray for optimism.

Looking back now I have to admit that we were underdogs in both games.

I rate West Ham as one of the best football sides I've seen at Ewood this season and that along with the fact that the tie was at Upton Park made it arguably the hardest draw we could get outside of the 'big four'.

Then there was the United game and all the plots and sub-plots surrounding it.

The night before the game there was the horrifying result for the powers that be when Wigan despatched Arsenal and ruined the 'dream final'.

As we all now know, despite a brave performance, it wasn't to be and our best chance of winning something this season was taken away from us.

I don't want to dwell too much on the events at Old Trafford that night but, let's face it, when you play there the one thing you want more than anything is a good performance from a strong referee.

I think it's fair to say we didn't get that and this was no more apparent than in the two penalty decisions.

That said, it's not the referee's fault that we lost, the fact is over the two games we weren't good enough.

The situation that the club now finds itself is different than in recent years. With no silverware to focus on and relegation safely avoided in January what progress will be made in the remainder of the season?

A UEFA cup place is not impossible to attain. It's all down to what the board now want, regardless of European qualification it's surely not lost on them the half million pounds per place on offer in the league.

More worrying to all Rovers fans though is how Hughes has talked quite openly about the club matching his ambition.

At the moment we are in a position of relative strength, should we not improve from this position and match our manager's desire we may lose more than UEFA qualification, but one of the brightest managerial prospects in the country.