Jason Roberts slots home Rovers' third.

Credit where it’s due. I, along with a large majority of Rovers fans, was having a right go at Sam Allardyce while huddling for warmth at half time at Ewood on Saturday.

One up front and 1-0 down while playing absolutely terribly, things were looking bleak.

Then Big Sam made one of the most attacking tactical changes he’s probably ever made. Removing the very much below par Pedersen and Diouf and throwing on Jason Roberts and Benni McCarthy proved to be a master stroke as Rovers dominated the second half having been extremely poor in the first.

Jason Roberts has come in for plenty of stick this season and he answered his critics in the best possible way. Yes, they were easy finishes, but he got himself into the right positions to give Rovers the equaliser and then sealed the win with the third after a wonderful link up with Benni.

McCarthy was also solid. Recent speculation over his future saw the Rovers fans chanting his name and he made a big difference to the game in the second half.

Unfortunately for Rovers at the moment there seems to be some flaws in our game plan.

The one up front with Dunny in the hole worked wonders against Burnley, Wolves and Villa. But the whole system relies on David Dunn putting in a good performance.

In the first half, Dunny wasn’t playing to his best, and that left Di Santo stranded on his own up front with no chance of a chance on goal.

There was little invention. With the ball constantly going from full back to centre back and then out to the other centre back, before finding it’s way back across, until a Portsmouth attacker put some pressure on and the ball was hoofed up field to little effect.

Then there’s the lack of closing down when the opposition advance. We didn’t learn our lesson from Robbie Blake’s stunner for Burnley and O’Hara made us pay with Portsmouth’s opener.

Very much a half to forget, and probably the worst Rovers half in a long while.

The second half was much better. Rovers actually went at Portsmouth and it paid dividends. With more than one striker on the pitch, Franco Di Santo was able to put himself about a bit more as he wasn’t on his own. And Dunny dropping back into midfield also seemed to work as he performed much better in the second half.

The battle of the England hopefuls was played out between Robbo and David ‘Calamity’ James, but neither came out particularly shining. Apart from the goal, Robbo had little to do, although he did fumble a long range effort in the second half when the slippery ball appeared to slip through his hands, but luckily for him it didn’t squeeze through into the net!

David James showed how he is definitely not England’s number one. His kicking in particular looking very poor.

All in all a good, and extremely vital, win for Rovers against a Portsmouth team that certainly doesn’t deserve to be bottom of the league.

The win lifted Rovers five places in the league to 13th, although we  have since dropped a place after Everton’s win over West Ham.

It also continued our fine home form. Four league wins in a row at Ewood, five in all competitions. It’s vital that we keep up that solid home form and make Ewood a place that opposing teams will look forward to with trepidation.

That said, we’ve got two away games coming up that could hopefully see us break the away duck. Bolton away in a fortnight is another massive game for Rovers. A perfect chance to turn our away fortunes around against a team that really isn’t that good!

Three points clear of the relegation zone, we can now look forward to the international break safe in the knowledge that we are no longer in the bottom three. A real weight off our shoulders!