BRETT Emerton believes last weekend’s derby delight could prove a seminal moment after insisting the end of their away-day woes would ensure another top half finish.

The Australian midfielder’s last-gasp winner at Blackpool earned Rovers their first away win of the season and he believes victory at Stoke tomorrow would be another huge stride forward in their pursuit of progress.

Rovers’ well-publicised troubles on their travels last campaign saw them made to wait until November 22 for their first win away from home, a 2-0 win at Bolton, and they only ended the year with five away points.

Victory at Stoke tomorrow though would already take them past that total, having also earned a hard-fought draw at Manchester City, and Emerton believes breaking their away day duck so early could yet be a turning point.

He said: “Stoke is a very tough place to go, but I think we have the personnel to go there and grind out a result. We went to Manchester City and put in a fantastic performance. If we can play well there, why not at Stoke?

“There is definitely the thought we can improve on 10th. At Ewood we are always going to be very tough to beat. I think we will have another very good home record, well I hope we will anyway.

“Really the away form last year was not good at all. It was not a disaster but it wasn’t great. We have the ability in the side to improve on that and if we do that we will improve on our 10th place finish.

“We were the better side at Birmingham but let ourselves down. We are probably disappointed at this stage of the season not to have picked up more points.

“Blackpool was a start, we have managed to get all three points away from home, which is something we struggled to do all last season. Hopefully we can build on that and hopefully it can really kick start our season. We find ourselves in the top half of the table now and we want to build on that.”

Emerton’s late heroics on Saturday ended a four-match winless streak for Rovers and propelled them back into the top half of the table.

A positive result in the Potteries tomorrow would cement their encouraging start, with Emerton insisting Rovers’ squad spirit can take them a long way.

“The boys showed how much it meant with their celebrations at the end,” he said. “One of the most disappointing things about our season so far is we have been taking the lead in so many games and haven’t been able to hang on.

“The squad is very important and that is what can take you a long, long way. It is a long, hard, gruelling season and everyone is going to play their part at some time. It is important everyone has the right mindset because everyone will get their opportunity.

We are all together.

“I think the league is going to be very tight. I think the big three will run away with it but anybody can take points off anyone.

Blackpool have shown they are a tough team to beat and many teams will go to Bloomfield Road and struggle and that makes it an even bigger victory for us.

“It is always hard to beat the teams that even been promoted, especially early on. The signs are good though and I don’t think there has really been a bad performance yet as a team. Long may that continue.”