BLACKBURN Rovers skipper Paul Robinson has stressed the importance of keeping their noses in front of their relegation rivals after admitting they let the fans down with a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ performance at Bolton on Saturday.

Rovers remain 16th in the Premier League – top of the bottom five, the group widely consid-ered as candidates for the drop – despite their 2-1 loss at relegation rivals Bolton at the weekend.

Steve Kean’s side face a tricky home clash against title challengers Manchester United in their next match on Monday and, although there are still eight games to go in the race to avoid relegation, Robinson is eager not to let any of the bottom four overtake Rovers.

Seven points from their previous three games had seen them briefly move clear of the relegation zone but the goalkeeper knows the weekend defeat has left them with plenty of work still to do after Wigan also secured victory, in surprise fashion at Liverpool.

And Robinson admitted Rovers did not perform well enough in front of 5,000 travelling fans at the Reebok Stadium.

“To perform the way we did in the first half, we let ourselves down and we let the fans down,” he told Roversplayer.

“We had a great following. It was fantastic to run out and see the whole end behind the goal full and in the first half we let everyone including ourselves down.

“We’re three points ahead of the bottom three and two points clear of the team below us so I think we would have taken that before the last few games.

“But we’re obviously disappointed because we could have extended that gap. We just leave ourselves with a job still to do.

“We all knew there was a job still to do but I think we could have gone a long way towards doing it on Saturday. It was a missed opportunity.

“By allowing Bolton to pick up three points makes it harder for ourselves.

“Liverpool haven’t really helped us this week, they’ve not done us any favours. The Wigan result was a shock result but we won at Old Trafford and got a point at Anfield - people wouldn’t have predicted those results.

“We’ve just got to keep our own shop in order because if we keep putting points on the board no-one can catch us.

“We’re in pole position at the moment and we’ve got to keep it that way.”

Rovers were 2-0 down at half time but were unable to find a leveller after Steven Nzonzi had pulled a goal back.

Robinson felt Rovers were much improved after the interval, as they were when they came from behind in the recent home draw against Aston Villa.

And he admitted he was unsure if the occasion – Bolton were keen to dedicate victory to Fabrice Muamba after the midfielder’s cardiac arrest – had been a factor in the result.

“I’m not sure if it did or not,” said the keeper.

“I think we were cautious and careful that it didn’t. We wanted to pay the respect and respect the game for what it was, but at the same time it was a Premier League fixture and we had a job to do.

“It was job we wanted to do and unfortunately we weren’t able to do it.

“We gave it our all in the second half, pretty much like we did in the Aston Villa game.

“It was a Jekyll and Hyde performance, the first half was poor, the second half was a lot better.”