AFTER suffering the worst defeat of his managerial career on Saturday, Steve Kean has promised supporters that they will see a real response when Blackburn Rovers host QPR tomorrow in a game he knows could be crucial to the club’s survival chances.

Former Rovers boss Mark Hughes brings his new club to Ewood Park three points above Blackburn in the Premier League table, after Kean’s side were hammered 7-1 at Arsenal and QPR suffered a shock 2-1 loss at home to Wolves at the weekend.

Both clubs will be hoping for major improvement, having each had a man sent off in defeat, and both know that the outcome of tomorrow’s game could have a large bearing on the rest of the season.

A two-goal victory could move second bottom Rovers above QPR and out of the relegation zone by the end of the weekend, depending on how Bolton fare at home to Wigan and Wolves’ result in their derby with West Bromwich Albion at Molineux.

Alternatively, defeat could leave Rovers as many as six points from safety.

Kean, though, insists his side are ready to produce a much better display than they did at the Emirates.

“I felt we were very poor on the day,” Kean admitted.

“I don’t think the sending off helped, obviously at a stadium like that with the way they were playing and the way they were stretching us.

“But we weren’t our usual selves, we weren’t aggressive, we weren’t getting up to the ball quickly.

“I feel that is the thing we want to make sure we bring into the QPR game.

“We’ve been in the whole week, it’s been a long week and I’m delighted with the response the players have made.

“There’s absolutely no chance in this world that we won’t be getting out of the blocks and being aggressive towards this game, because we know how big it is.”

Kean will welcome back 13-goal top scorer Yakubu from a three-match ban tomorrow, after a red card for a high tackle in the recent home game against Fulham.

And the Scot knows how important the availability Yakubu could prove to be, comparing his comeback with Demba Ba’s return from the Africa Cup of Nations for Newcastle.

Ba found the net and helped Newcastle to a 2-1 win over Aston Villa in his first game back on Sunday.

“It’s great to have Yakubu back,” Kean said.

“I think you just need to look at his goal tally. Newcastle have obviously missed Demba Ba when he’s been away, he’s come back in and looked sharp and made a difference, and we expect the Yak to do the same for us.”

Rovers might have considered Yakubu’s absence from the Africa Cup of Nations a bonus, with Nigeria not involved and the striker exiled from their squad since the 2010 World Cup in any case – having been blamed by many for missing an open goal as they were edged out for a place in the last 16.

As it turned out, the 29-year-old has missed near enough the same period through suspension instead after Rovers aborted plans to appeal his sending off for a high challenge on Danny Murphy, despite believing there was no malice in the tackle.

Kean said: “I spoke to some of the referees that I’ve known for a long time and said, ‘Can we appeal Yak’s red card?’, because we were thinking about appealing.

“But they said, ‘No you can’t appeal his three matches just because he’s a good guy’.

“We all know that there wasn’t a real intent in his tackle against Fulham, but we’ve missed him.

“You would always miss someone who has given you that amount of goals.

“He’s responded in the time that he’s been out.

“The amount of sessions and hard work he’s put in has been tremendous.

“He’s a great guy to have back around the place on the football side.

“We’ve had him in training, but not in the matches.”