PROUD Blackburn manager Mark Hughes praised his players' character and commitment after they dug deep to round off their season in style.

A goal in each half from Zurab Khizanishvili and Shefki Kuqi ensured Rovers' end-of-season celebrations went with an extra bang yesterday.

And their 2-0 win at the expense of Manchester City was Rovers' 13th of the season at Ewood in the Premiership, and their 19th in total in the league.

It meant Blackburn finished the season on 63 points - their highest Premiership points total since they won the title in 1995!

A delighted Hughes said of his heroes: "That performance really typified the qualities we've shown right through the season.

"Obviously, going down to 10 men was always going to be difficult, but I thought the guys were excellent.

"I made changes to the team because I wanted to recognise the contributions of the guys who have been on the edge of things of late; people like Shefki Kuqi, Paul Dickov, Aaron Mokoena and Sergio Peter.

"As always, when I make substitutions or make changes to the team, invariably the lads who come in are ready to make an impact, and that's really important, so I was delighted CONTINUED ON PAGE 18>> FROM PAGE 17 for everyone."

Rovers fought back from the early loss of Mokoena to take the lead courtesy of Khizanishvili's second goal of the season.

Then Kuqi put the seal on another hard earned victory when he pounced to make it 2-0 shortly after half-time.

Even the late dismissal of Tugay - sent off for a lunge at City's David Sommeil - failed to take the gloss off another memorable day at the end of a quite remarkable season.

Looking forward to competing in Europe again next season, Hughes added: "It's been a huge, huge effort by everyone, and I thought we were good value for it as well over the season.

"We've played the guys at the top, the real quality sides, and we've won games against Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal.

"This could have been another difficult for us as well. We had nothing to play for.

"We couldn't have gone down, we couldn't have gone up, but we still showed the qualities we've shown all year - a real drive and determination not to get beat.

"And we'll have to show those same qualities again next season."

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