Hughes targeting European finish

BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes believes his side have the perfect platform from which to launch a bid for a European place.

Three successive victories in the Premiership for the first time in 20 months have elevated Rovers up to eighth, their highest position since Hughes took charge at Ewood Park in September 2004.

There is now a belief sweeping the club that, after avoiding relegation last season, they are in the process of building something special this term.

As well as reaching the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, with a two-legged tie looming with Manchester United this month, Hughes’ side are also just three points off the top six.

Hughes is in no doubt his players can push on as he said: “We’ve a lot of games coming up in a short period of time, so we are going to have to ask the guys to dig deep again.

“We’re up to eighth, which is bang on target for where I wanted us to be at this stage of the season.

“It means we can look forward to the rest of the season. We’ve given ourselves a good platform for the second half of the campaign.

“All the top sides have to come to Ewood Park, but they are all big games from now until the end of the season.

“There’s no reason why, if we’re in the mix for a European place towards the end of the season that we can’t have a real good go.”

Crucially for Hughes, his side have started to turn draws into wins, which is why it took Blackburn so long to claw their way to safety last season.

“We had a nine-game run from the end of October through to Christmas last year in which we drew seven of those,” added Hughes.

“It makes such a difference when you can convert draws into wins.”

Rovers’ latest success came with a 2-1 win over struggling Portsmouth at Ewood Park on Monday night, with goals from Morten Gamst Pedersen and Paul Dickov cancelling out Matthew Taylor’s opener.

Pedersen has scored two in two games after being given St Stephen’s Day off by Hughes, and is understood to be a target for Tottenham. But the Norway winger, however, remains happy at Blackburn.

“I’m getting on fine at Blackburn. Tottenham are not that much better than us if you look at the table, and we’re starting to build a good team ourselves.”